


i°''t^ -J- 










fe-"y°- 



^oV^ 



'^ / ... -^. 







*" <^^'^>. 









v< 



.'. '-^^0^ /- 



. •* ^0 



^^ -ftTo'* .^"^ 

















•- t^O^ o^, 

















v^O^ 














o i * " G^ ^c^ 








Lib. 



READINGS IN AMERICAN HISTORY 



READINGS IN 
AMERICAN HISTORY 



EDITED BY 

JAMES ALTON JAMES 

PROFESSOR OF HISTORY IN NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY 



CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS 

NEW YORK CHICAGO BOSTON 



\\ 



Em 

■ J'zS 



Copyright, 1914, bt 
CHARLES SCRIBNERS SONS 



FEB 20 1914 




CLAafiOOSIi 



PREFACE 

The text-book American History, written for the use of 
high schools by A. H. Sanford and myself, "includes, as a 
portion of the bibliographical material connected with each 
chapter, Readings in American History. The present volume 
is the fulfillment of the promise that a limited number of 
sources would be collected which might be suitable for col- 
lateral reading. I am convinced, from my own experience 
as teacher in the secondary schools, that the judicious use 
of such material adds life and reality to historical study. 

In making the selections I have constantly kept in mind 
that pupils of high-school age are ordinarily but slightly 
interested in constitutional documents. A. relatively large 
number of the extracts have been taken, therefore, from the 
journals and letters of persons who were contemporary with 
the events described. Books of travel have likewise been 
drawn upon extensively. Topics have been chosen in the 
various fields of human activity, political, industrial, social, 
educational, and religious, but, in general, more extended 
selections, from fewer sources, have been made than has 
heretofore been usual in similar collections. 

In the preparation of the present volume I am under spe- 
cial obligations to Albert H. Sanford, of the La Crosse, Wis- 
consin, State Normal School; Edward C. Page, of the De 
Kalb, Illinois, State Normal School; and William V. Pooley, 
of Northwestern University, for reading certain chapters of 

V 



vi Preface 

the manuscript and tor their many suggestions. My indebt- 
edness to u number of editors of special volumes and to pub- 
lishers who ha\e generously permitted the use of selections 
is acknowledged in the following pages. As originally 
planned, Ciuirles AV. Mann, Professor of History in Lewis 
Institute, Chicago, was to co-operate with me in the choice 
of the readings, but liis death occurred before the work was 
fairly begun. His coimsel would have added materially to 
any merits which the volume may possess. 

James Alton James. 
EvANSTON, Illinois, November, 1913. 



CONTENTS 



I. — The Discovery of America: 

1. Voyages of the Northmen (about 1000) . 1 

2. Discovery of America by Christopher 

Columbus (1492) 8 

3. Letter from Columbus to Ferdinand and 

Isabella Concerning the Coloniza- 
tion and Commerce of the Island of 
Hispaniola 13 

II. — Spanish Exploration and Colonization: 

,4. Spanish Motives for Colonization ... 17 

5. Expedition of De Soto, 1539-1542 .... 25 

III. — The Rivalry of Nations in the Sixteenth 
Century : 

6. The Expedition of John Cabot, 1497 . . 29 

7. Cartier's Description of Hochelaga, 1535 33 

IV^. — Virginia and Maryland: 

8. Instructions for the Voyage to Virginia 36 

9. Condition of the Jamestown Colony, 1607 38 

10. Value of Virginia as a Colony 40 

V. — New England: 

11. John Smith's Description of New Eng- 

land, 1614 45 

12. Incidents in the History of Plymouth 

Plantation 49 

vii 



viii Contents 

chapter' page 

13. New England as a Pl-^ce for Settle- 

ment, 1629 52 

14. Progress of the Massachusetts Bay 

Colony, 1631 57 

VI. — Further English Colonization: 

15. Resources of Pennsylvania 62 

VII. — The Colonies After the Restoration, 1660- 
1690: 

'9 16. Revolt Against the Authority of Gov- 
ernor Andros 67.-' 

17. Confession and Recantation of Witches 72 

18. Examination for Witchcraft 73 

19. Recantation of Confessors of Witch- 

craft 75 

V __ 

VIII. — The French in America: 

20. Characteristics of the Iroquois Indians 7S 

21. Marquette's Two Journeys 83 

22. La Salle and the Discovery of the 

Mouth of the Mississippi River ... 91 

23. French and English Contest for the 

Control of the Ohio Valley .... 9fi 

24. George Washington and the French 

Posts on the Ohio, 1753 101 

IX. — The English Colonies in the Eighteenth 
Century: 

25. Social and Economic Conditions in New > 

York City, 1732 106 ■ 

26. Philadelphia and New York, 1748 ... 110 

27. Economic Conditions in Virginia, Penn- 

sylvania, AND Rhode Island, 1759 . . 121 

X. — Causes of the American Revolution: 

28. Effect of British Commercial Regu- 

lations, 1765 126 



Contents ix 

OHAPTEft PAGE 

29. Parliamentary Petitions Against the 

Stamp Act, January 17, 1776 .... 130 

30. b^NJA.MiN Franklin and the Repeal of 

the Stamp Act 133 

31. Description of the First Continental 

Congress, 1774 137 

XI.— The Revolutionary War, 1776-1783: 

32. Effects of a Weak Central Govern- 

ment, 1778 145 

33. American Diplomacy and French As- 

sistance During the Revolution . . 148 

34. The Capture of Vincennes by George 

Rogers Clark, 1779 152 

35. The Revolution and American De- 

velopment 156 

XII. — The Period of the Confederation, 1781-1789: 

36. Government Under the Confederation 

A Failure 164 

37. A Picture of Pioneer Life 168 

38. A Weak Form of Government and Trade 

Conditions, 1787 176 

XIII. — The Formation of the Federal Constitution: 

39. The First Abolition Society 180 

40. Economic and Social Conditions in Amer- 

ica, 1788 183 

41. The Temperance Movement, 1789 ... 189 

42. Life at Princeton and on a Virginia 

Plantation, 1767-1774 194 

43. Treatment of Prisoners, 1785 202 

44. A Trip to Mt. Vernon and North Caro- 

lina 203 

XIV. — Organization of the New Government: 

45. Inaugur.^tion of President Washington 208 



X Contents 

CHAPTER PAfiE 

46. Forms and Ceremonies Connected with 

THE Inauguration of the Government 216 

XV.— Foreign Relations, 1793-1801: 

47. Control of the Navigation of the Mis- 

sissippi BY Spain, 1793 225 

48. Washington's Farewell Address .... 229 

49. The X. Y. Z. Correspondence, 1797 . . 235 

50. John Marshall's Return to America and 

French-American Rel.\tions, 1798 . . 241 

51. Steps Leading to an Understanding 

WITH France 244 

XVI. — Democracy and E.xpansion, 1801-1811: 

52. Thomas Jefferson as Man and States- 

man 246 

53. Thomas Jefferson as Seen by Daniel 

Webster 252 

54. Attitude of Jefferson Toward the 

Constitution 253 

55. Founding of the University of Virginia, 

1819 255 

56. The Lewis and Clark Expedition . . . 258 

57. Robert Fulton and the First Steam- 

boat 265 

58. Inauguration of President Madison . . 268 

XVII.— The War of 1812: 

59. British Justification of the War of 

1812 272 

60. Favorable View of War 276 

61. The Capture of Washington, 1814 . . . 280 

62. Ni-:w York City, 1811 286 

XVIII. — Reorganization, Westward Migration, and 
Internal Improvements, 1815-1825: 

63. Political and Social Life, 1817 .... 297 



Contents xi 

CHAPTER PAGE 

64. The West in 1815 304 

65. The Steamboat and Its Influence on 

Western Trade Conditions 311 

66. Disposal of the Public Lands, 1796- 

1820 318 

67. The Santa Fe Trail, 1831 322 

XIX. — The Development of Nationalism, 1815-1830: 

68. The Monroe Doctrine 331 

69. The Protective Tariff and the South . 334 
XX. — The New Democracy and the Increase of Sec- 
tional Feeling, 1830-1845: 

70. The Real Andrew Jackson 342 

71. Inauguration of Andrew Jackson, 1829 347 

72. Chicago in 1837 351 

73. Beginning of Steam Railroad Construc- 

tion 360 

74. The First Express Company in Opposi- 

tion to the Railroad 367 

75. Progress in the Means of Communication 

AND Social Conditions, 1834 372 

76. Organization of the National Anti- 

Slavery Society, 1833 378, 

77. The First Telegraph Line, 1844 .... 383 

XXI. — Territorial Expansion and Growth of the 
Slavery Issue: 

78. The Oregon Trail, 1848 ....... 388 

79. Discovery of Gold in California . . . 397 

80. Influence of Gold-Mining on the De- 

velopment OF San Francisco 404 

81. Arguments in Favor of Negro Slavery 405 

82. A Picture of Immigration and Settle- 

ment, 1831 411 

XXII. — Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling: 

83. Development of Railroads, 1850-1860 , 420 



xli Contents 

CHAPTER PAGE 

S4. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858 . . 426 

85. The Nomination of Abraham Lincoln . 436 

XXIIL — Secession and Civil Wak: 

86. Alexander H. Stephens and Secession, 

1860 444 

87. Scenes at the Opening of the War . . 453 

88. The Battle of Gettysburg 461 

XXIV.— The Civil War: 

89. Attitude of the English Toward the 

Civil War 475 

90. President Lincoln's Second Lvaugural 

Address, March 4, 1865 478 

91. Scene at Appomattox, 1865 480 

92. Character of Abraham Lincoln .... 486 

XXV. — Reconstruction : 

93. An Appeal to the South, 1865 489 

94. The South and Carpet-Bag Rule, 1873 493 

XXVL — Diplomacy, Finance, and Politics, 1865-1877: 

95. The Alabama Cl.\ims 498 

96. Disposal of the Public Lands by the 

Federal Government 502 

XXVIL — Industrial and Social Changes, 1866-1886: 

97. Strikes and Lockouts 510 

XXVIII. — Political Changes and Industrial Expansion, 
1880-1890: 

98. Civil Service Reform, 1883 514 

XXIX. -The Spanish-American War, 1898: 

99. Porto Rico Under the American Fl.\g . 526 

XXX.— The Opening of a New Era: 

100. The Diplomacy of John Hay .... 533 

101. Preserving the World's Pe.\ce . . . .536 



Contents xiii 

PAGE 

102. Relations Between the United States 

AND THE South American States . . . 543 

103. The Rich Kingdom of Cotton 547 

104. Conservation of Natural Resources . 560 

105. The Inauguration of President Wood- 

row Wilson 570 

Index 583 



4^ 



READINGS IN 

AMERICAN HISTORY 

CHAPTER I 

THE DISCOVERY OF AMERICA • 

1. Voyages of the Northmen (about 1000) 

The voyages of the Northmen to Greenland began about 985 
A. D., a centurj' after their settlement in Iceland. Two colonies 
were founded in Greenland, known as the Western, and Eastern 
settlements. In the latter, at Brattahlid, was the home of Eric 
the Red and his wife Thorhild. They had two sons, Thorstein 
and Leif, afterward called Leif the Lucky. In the year 1000 Leif 
was in Norway, at the court of King Olaf Tryggrason, and was 
selected by the King to introduce Christianity into Greenland. On 
his journey, however, he was driven from his course by storms and 
came i\pon an unknown coast. 

During the following decade several attempts were made to col- 
onize this land, known as Wineland, and these voyages form the 
chief subject-matter of two old Norse sagas: the Book of Hauk 
Erlendsson (about 1300) and that known as the Flat Island Book, 
because it was owned for a long time by a famih' living on Flat 
Island off the northeastern coast of Iceland. The following ac- 
count is from Hauk's Book, or the Saga of Eric the Red, and de- 
scribes the voyage of Thorfinn Karlsefni. — (The Finding of Wine- 
land the Good. Translated and edited by Ai-thur Middleton 
Reeves, pp. 42-52, 64-67. London, ISOO.) 

About this time there began to be much talk at Brattah- 
lid to the effect that Wineland the Good should be explored, 
for, it was said, that country must be possessed of many 
goodly qualities. And so it came to pass that Karlsefni 

1 



ReadiiKjs in Anwrlcdii Ilistorij 



The voy- 
age of 
Thorflnn 
Karlscfni 
and his 
compan- 
ions. 



The land 
of Flat 
Stones and 
Bear 
Island 
discovered. 



^larch- 
land, 
Keclness, 
and the 
Wonder- 
strands. 



Thorliall, a 
companion 
of Karl- 
sefni, goes 
north in 
searcli of 
Wiueland. 



and Snorri fitted out their ship for the purpose of going in 
search of that country in the spring. . . . Tliey had in all 
one hundred and sixty men when they sailed to the Western 
Settlement and thence to Bear Jsland. Thence they bore 
away to the southward two "doegr" (twenty-four hours). 
Thence they saw lantl, and launched a boat and explored 
the land, and found there large flat stones, and many of them 
were twelve ells wide; there were many arctic foxes there. 
They gave a name to the country and called it Helluland 
(the land of flat stones). Then they sailed with northerly 
winds two "doegr" and land lay before them, and upon it 
was a great wood and many wild beasts; an island lay off 
the land to the southeast, and there they found a bear, and 
they called this Biarney (Bear Island), while the land where 
the wood was they called Marchland (Forest Land). Thence 
they sailed southward for a long time and came to a cape, 
and land lay upon the starboard; there were long strands 
and sandy banks there. They rowed to the land and found 
upon the cape the keel of a ship and they called the place 
Kialarnes (Keelness); they also called the strands Furdu- 
strandir (Wonder-strands), because they were ^o long to 
sail by. . . . 

It is said that Thorhall wished to sail to the northward 
beyond Wonder-strands in search of Wineland, while Karl- 
sefni desired to proceed to the southward off the coast. 
Thorhall prepared for his voyage out below the island, hiiv- 
ing only nine men in his party, for all the remainder of the 
company went to Karlsefni. And one day when Thorhall 
was carrying water aboard his ship and was drinking, he 
recited this ditty: 

"When I came, those brave men told me, 

Hero the best of drink I'd got, 
Now with water-pail behold mo, — 

Wine and I are strangers yot. 
Stooping at tho spring I've tested 

All'the wine this land affords; 
Of its vaunted charms divested, 

Poor indeed arc its rewards." 



The Discovery of America 3 

And when they were ready they hoisted sail; whereupon 
Thorhall recited this ditty: 

"Comrades, let us now be faring 

Homeward to our own again! 
Let us try the sea-steed's daring, 

Give the chafing courser rein. 
Those who will may bide in quiet, 

Let them praise their chosen land. 
Feasting on a whale-steak diet, 

In their home by Wonder-strand." 



Then they sailed away to the northward past Wonder- 
strands and Keelness, intending to cruise to the westward 
around the cape. They encountered westerly gales, and 
were driven ashore in Ireland, where they were grievously 
maltreated and thrown into slavery. There Thorhall lost 
his life, according to that which traders have related. 

It is now to be told of Karlsefni* that he cruised southward 
off the coast, with Snorri and Biarni and their people. They 
sailed for a long time until at last they came to a river which 
flowed down from the land into a lake, and so into the sea. 
There were great bars at the mouth of the river so that it 
could only be entered at the height of flood tide. Karlsefni 
and his men sailed into the mouth of the river and called it 
Hop (a landlocked bay). They found self-sown wheat-fields 
on the land there, wherever there were hollows, and wherever 
there was hilly ground there were vines. Every brook was 
full of fish. They dug pits on the shore when the tide rose 
highest, and when the tide fell there were halibut in the pits. 
There were great numbers of wild animals of all kinds in the 
woods. They remained there half a month, and enjoyed 
themselves and kept no watch. They had their live stock 
with them. Now, one morning early when they looked 
about them they saw a great number of skin canoes, and 
staves were brandished from the boats with a noise like 

*For some of the various attempts which have been made to locate 
Karlsefni's landing-place, see Wiasor, Narrative and Critical History, vol. 
I, chap. II. 



Karlsefni'i 
adven- 
tures. 



First 
meeting 
with the 
natives. 



Readings in American History 



flails, and they were revolved in the same direction in which 
the sun moves. Then said Karlsef ni : " What may this be- 
token?" Snorri, Thorbrand's son, answers him: "It may 
be that this is a signal of peace, wherefore let us take a white 
shield and display it." And thus they did. Thereupon the 
strangers rowed toward them and went upon the land, mar- 
velling at those whom they saw before them. They were 
swarthy men and ill-looking, and the hair of their heads was 
ugly. They had great eyes and were broad of cheek. They 
tarried there for a time looking curiously at the people they 
saw before them, and then rowed away and to the south- 
ward around the point. 

Karlsefni and his followers had built their huts above the 
lake, some of the dwellings being near the lake and others 
further away. Now they remained there that winter. No 
snow came there, and all of their live stock lived by grazing. 
And wlien spring opened they discovered, early one morning, 
a great number of skin canoes, rowing from the south past 
the cape, so numerous that it looked as if coals had been 
scattered broadcast out before the bay; and on every boat 
staves were waved. Thereupon Karlsefni and his people dis- 
played their shields, and when they came together they be- 
gan to barter with each other. Especially did the strangers 
wish to buy red cloth, for which they offered in exchange 
peltries and quite gray skins. They also desired to bu#' 
swords and spears, but Karlsefni and Snorri forbade this. 
In exchange for perfect unsullied skins the Skrt^llings would 
take red stuff a span in length, which they would bind around 
their heads. So their trade went on for a time, until Karl- 
sefni and his people began to grow short of cloth, when they 
divided it into such narrow pieces that it was no more than 
a finger's breadth wide, but the Skrellings still continued to 
give just as much for this as before, or more. 

It so happened that a bull which belonged to Karlsefni 
and his people ran out of the woods bellowing loudly. This 
so terrified the Skrellings that they sped out to their canoes 
and then rowed away to the southward along the coast. 



The Discovery of America 



For three entire weeks nothing more was seen of them. At 
the enti of this time, however, a great number of Skrelhng 
boats were discovered approaching from the south, as if a 
stream was pouring down, and all of their staves were waved 
in a direction contrary to the course of the sun, and the Skrel- 
lings were all uttering loud cries. Thereupon Karlsefni and 
his men took red shields and displayed them. The Skrellings 
sprang from their boats and they met them and fought 
together. There was a fierce shower of missiles, for the 
Skrellings had war slings. Karlsefni and Snorri observed 
that the Skrellings raised up on a pole a great ball-shaped 
body nearly black in color, and this they hurled from the 
pole upon the land above Karlsefni's followers, and it made 
a frightful noise when it fell. Whereat a great fear seized 
upon Karlsefni and all his men, so that they could think of 
naught but flight and of making their escape up along the 
ri\"er bank, for it seemed to them that troops of Skrellings 
were rushing toward them from every side, and they did not 
pause until they came to certain jutting crags, where they 
offered a stout resistance. . . . 

It now seemed clear to Karlsefni and his people that al- 
though the country thereabouts was attractive their life 
would be one of constant dread and turmoil by reason of 
the inhabitants of the country, so they forthwith prepared 
to leave and determined to return to their own country. 



Wineland 
aban- 
doned. 



The story of Leif Ericsson's expedition is told at much greater 
length in the Flat Island Book, from which the following is taken: 



There was now much talk of voyages of discovery. Leif, 
the son of Eric the Red of Brattahlid, visited Biarni Heriulfs- 
son and bought a ship of him, and collected a crew until they 
formed altogether a company of thirty-five men. Leif in- 
vited his father Eric to become the leader of the expedition, 
but Eric declined, saying that he was less able to endure the 
exposure of sea-life than he had been. Leif replied that he 
would nevertheless be the one who would be most apt to 



Voyage of 
Leif Erics- 
son, from 
the Flat 
Island 
Book. 



6 



Readings in American History 



bring good luck, and Eric yielded to Leif s pleading and rode 
from home when they were ready to sail. When he was 
but a short distance from the ship the horse which Eric was 
riding stumbled, and he was thrown from his back and under 
his feet, whereupon he exclaimed: "It is not designed for 
me to discover more lands than the one in which we are now 
living, nor can we continue longer together." Eric returned 
home to Brattahlid, and Leif went on his way to the ship 
with his companions, thirty-five men; one of the company 
was a German named Tyrker. They put the ship in order, 
and when they were ready they sailed out to sea, and found 
first that land which Biarni and his shipmates found last. 
They sailed up to the land and cast anchor, and launched a 
boat and went ashore, and found no grass there. Great ice 
mountains lay inland back from the sea, and it was as a 
(tableland of) flat rock from the sea to the ice mountains, 
and the country seemed to them to be entirely devoid of 
good qualities. Then said Leif: "It has not come to pass 
with us in regard to this land as with Biarni, that we have not 
gone upon it. To this country I will now give a name and 
call it Helluland" (the land of flat stones). They returned 
to the ship, put out to sea, and found a second land. They 
sailed again to the land and came to anchor and launched a 
boat and went on shore. This was a level, wooded land, 
and there were broad stretches of white sand where they 
went, and the land was level by the sea. Then said Leif: 
"This land shall have a name after its nature, and we will 
call it Markland" (forest land). They returned to the ship 
forthwith, and sailed away upon the main with northeast 
winds and were out two "doegr" (twenty-four hours) before 
they sighted land. They sailed toward this land and came 
to an island which lay to the northward off the land. There 
they went ashore and looked about them, the weather being 
fine, and they observed that there was a dew upon the grass, 
and it so happened that they touched the dew with their 
hands and touched their hands to their mouths, and it seemed 
to them that they had never before tasted anything so sweet 



The Discovery of America 



as this. They went aboard their ship again and sailed into 
a certain sound, which lay between the island and the cape, 
which jutted out from the land on the north, and they stood 
in westering past the cape. At ebb tide there were broad 
reaches of shallow water there, and they ran their ship 
aground, and it was a long distance from their ship to the 
sea; yet were they so anxious to go ashore that they could 
not wait until the tide should rise under their ship, but 
hastened to the land where a certain river flows out from a 
lake. As soon as the tide rose beneath their ship they took 
the boat and rowed to the ship which they brought up the 
river and so into the lake, where they cast anchor and car- 
ried their hammocks ashore from the ship and built them- 
selves booths. They afterward determined to establish 
themselves there for the winter, and they accordingly built 
a large house. There was no lack of salmon there either in 
the river or in the lake, and larger salmon than they had ever 
seen before. The country thereabouts seemed to be possessed 
of such good qualities that cattle would need no fodder dur- 
ing the winter. There was no frost there in the winter and 
the grass withered but little. The days and nights were of 
more nearly equal length than in Greenland or Iceland. 
When they had completed their house Leif said to his com- 
panions: "I propose now to divide our company into two 
groups, and to set about an exploration of the country; 
one half of our party shall remain at the house, while the 
other half shall investigate the land, and they must not go 
beyond a point from which they can return the same day, 
and they are not to separate." Thus they did for a time; 
Leif himself by turns joined the exploring party or remained 
behind at the house. 'Leif was a large and powerful man and 
of a most imposing bearing, a man of sagacity, and a very 
great man in all things. 

It was discovered one evening that one of their company 
was missing, and this proved to be Tyrker, the German. 
Leif was sorely troubled by this, for Tyrker had lived with 
Leif and his father for a long time and had been very de- 



Winter 

quarters 

built. 



Adven- 
tures of 
Tyrker, 
the 
German. 



8 Readings in American History 

voted to Leif when he was a child. Leif severely repri- 
niand('(l his companions, and prepared to ^o in search of 
him, taking twelve men with him. They had gone hut a 
short distance from the house when they were met by Tyrker, 
whom they received most cordially. Leif saw at once that 
his foster-father was in li\ely spirits. Tyrker had a promi- 
nent forehead, restless eyes, small features, was small in 
stature, and rather a sorry -looking individual withal, but 
was nevertheless a most capable handicraftsman. Leif ad- 
dressed him and asked: "Wherefore art thou so belated, 
foster-father mine, and astra}' from the others?" In the be- 
ginning Tyrker spoke for some time in German, rolling his 
eyes and grinning, and they could not understand him; but 
after a time he addressed them in the northern tongue: "I 
did not go much further than you, and I have something of 
novelty to relate. I have found vines and grapes." " Is 
this, indeed, true, foster-father? " asked Leif. '* Of a certainty 
it is true," said he, "for I was born where there is no lack of 
either grapes or vines." They slept the night through, and 
on the morrow Leif said to his shipmates: "We will now 
divide our labors, and each day will either gather grapes or 
cut vines and fell trees, so as to obtain a cargo of these for 
my ship." They acted upon this advice, and it is said their 
after-boat was filled with grapes. A cargo sufficient for the 
ship was cut, and when spring came they made their ship 
ready and sailed away; and from its products Leif gave the 
land a name and called it Wineland. They sailed out to sea 
and had fair winds until thev sighted Greenland. . . . 



2. Discovery of America by Christopher Columbus 

(1492) 

When Columbus sailed from Palos he resolved "(o write an ac- 
count of all the voyage very punctually, noting from day to day all 
that I should do or see." The original journal has disappeared 
but there is an abridgment which contains many extracts from it. 
Columbus describes the difficulties of the voyage, the fears of the 
sailors and the means he used to quiet them, their joy at finding 



The Discovery of Ant erica 



9 



land, and the perils of the return. — (The Journal of Christopher 
Columbus During His First Voyage, 1492-93. Translated, with 
notes and an introduction, by Clements R. Markham, London, 
1893.) 

I left the city of Granada on the 12th day of May, in the The saii- 
same year of 1492, being Saturday, and came to the town of coiumbus 
Palos, which \s a seaport; where I equipped three vessels 
well suited for such service; and departed from that port 
well supplied with provisions and with many sailors, on the 
3d day of August of the same year, being Friday, half an 
hour before sunrise, taking the route to the Islands of Ca- 
naria belonging to your Highnesses, which are in the said 
Ocean Sea, that I might thence take my departure for navi- 
gating until I should arrive at the Indies, and give the letters 
of your Highnesses to those princes, so as to comply with 
my orders. 

Monday, 6th of August. 
The rudder of the caravel Pinta became unshipped, and 
Martin Alonzo Pinzon, who was in command, believed or 
suspected that it was by contrivance of Gomes Rascon and 
Cristobal Quintero to whom the caravel belonged, for they 
dreaded to go on that voyage. . . . 

Sunday, 9th of September. 
This day the Admiral made nineteen leagues, and he ar- The 
ranged to reckon less than the number run, because if the "i'stances 
voyage was of long duration, the people would not be so 
terrified and disheartened. . . . 



of the 
compass. 



Thursday, 13th of September. 
That day and night, steering their course which was west, Variation 
they made thirty-three leagues, counting three or four less. 
The currents were against them. On this day, at the com> 
mencement of the night, the needles turned half a point to 
the northwest, and in the morning they turned somewhat 
more northwest. 



10 



Readings in American History 



Saturday, 22(1 of September. 
They shaped their course W. N. W. more or less, her head 
turning from one to the other point, and made thirty leagues. 
They saw some sandpipers and another bird. Here the 
Admiral says: "This contrary wind was very necessary for 
me, because my people were much excited at the thought 
that in these seas no wind ever blew in the direction of 
Spain. ..." 



Thursday, 11th of October. 

The course was W. S. W., and there was more sea than 
there had been during the whole of the voyage. They saw 
sandpipers and a green reed near the ship. Those of the 
caravel Pinia saw a cane and a pole, and they took up another 
small pole which appeared to have been worked with iron; 
also another bit of cane, a land plant and a small board. 
The crew of the caravel Nina also saw signs of land, and a 
small branch covered with berries. Every one breathed 
afresh and rejoiced at these signs. The run till sunset was 
twenty-seven leagues. 

After sunset, the Admiral returned to his original west 
course, and they went along at the rate of twelve miles an 
hour. Up to two hours after midnight, they had gone 
ninety miles, equal to twenty-two and a half leagues. As the 
caravel Pinta was a better sailer and went ahead of the 
Admiral, she found the land, and made the signals ordered 
by the Admiral. The land was first seen by a sailor named 
Rodrigo de Triana. But the Admiral, at ten o'clock, being 
in the castle of the poop, saw a light, though it was so un- 
certain that he could not affirm it was land. He called Pero 
Gutierrez, a gentleman of the king's bed-chamber, and said 
that there seemed to be a light, and that he should look at 
it. He did so and saw it. The Admiral said the same to 
Rodrigo Sanchez of Segovia, whom the King and Queen 
had sent with the fleet as inspector, but he could see nothing, 
because he was not in a place where anything could be seen. 
After the Admiral had spoken, he saw the light once or twice 



The Discovery of America 11 

and it was like a wax candle, rising and falling. It seemed 
to few to be an indication of land; but the Admiral made 
certain that land was close. When they said the SalvCf 
which all the sailors were accustomed to sing in their way, 
the Admiral asked and admonished his men to keep a good 
lookout on the forecastle and to watch well for land; and to 
him who should first cry out that he saw land, he would give 
a silk doublet, besides the other rewards promised by the 
sovereigns, which were 10,000 maravedis* to him who should 
first see it. At two hours after midnight the land was sighted 
at a distance of two leagues. They shortened sail, and lay 
by under the mainsail without the bonnets. 

The vessels were hove to, waiting for daylight ; and on The land- 
Friday they arrived at a small island of the Lucayos, called, be^'i^^'"" 
in the language of the Indians, Guanahani. Presently, they 
saw naked people. The Admiral went on shore in the armed 
boat, and Martin Alonzo Pinzon, and Vicente Yanez, his 
brother, who was captain of the Nina. The Admiral took 
the royal standard, and the captains went with two banners 
of the green^cross, which the Admiral took in all the ships as 
a sign, with an F and a Y,t and a crown over each letter, 
one on one side of the cross and one on the other. Having 
landed, they saw trees very green, and much water, and fruits 
of diverse kinds. The Admiral called to the two captains, 
and to the others who leaped on shore, and to Rodrigo 
Escovedo, secretary of the whole fleet, and to Rodrigo 
Sanchez of Segovia, and said that they should bear faithful 
testimony that he, in presence of all, had taken as he now 
took, possession of the said island for the King and for the 
Queen, his lords, making the declarations that are required, 
as is now largely set forth in the testimonies which were 
then made in writing. 

Presently many inhabitants of the islands assembled. 
What follows is in the actual words of the Admiral in his 

* The maravedi was worth about two-thirds of a cent. Columbus re- 
ceived this reward, because he saw the light on shore. 
t Fernando and Ysabel. 



12 



Readings in American History 



book of the first navigation and discovery of the Indies. 
"I," he says, "that we might form great friendship, for I 
knew that they were a people who could be more easily freed 
and con\erted to our holy faith by love than by force, gave 
to some of them red caps and glass beads to put around 
their necks, and many other things of little value, which 
gave them great pleasure, and made them so much our friends 
that it was a marvel to see. They afterwards came to the 
ship's boats where we were, swimming and bringing us parrots, 
cotton threads in skeins, darts, and many other things; and 
we exchanged them for other things that we gave them, such 
as glass beads and small bells. In fine, they took all and 
gave what they had with good will. It appeared to me to 
be a race of people very poor in everything. 

They are very well made, with very handsome bodies, and 
very good countenances. Their hair is short and coarse, 
almost like the hairs of a horse's tail. They wear the hair 
brought down to the eyebrows, except a few locks behind, 
which they wear long and never cut. They paint themselves 
black, and they are the color of the Canarians, neither black 
nor white. Some paint themselves white, others red, and 
others of what color they can find. Some paint their faces, 
others the whole body, some only around the eyes, others 
only on the nose. They neither carry nor know anything 
of arms, for I showed them swords, and they took them by 
the blade and cut themselves through ignorance. They have 
no iron, their darts being wands without iron, some of them 
having a fish's tooth at the end, and others being pointed 
in various ways. They should be good servants and intelli- 
gent, for I observed that they quickly took in what was said 
to them, and I believe that they would easily be made Chris- 
tians, as it appeared to me that they had no religion. I, our 
Lord being pleased, will take hence at the time of my depar- 
ture, six natives for your Highnesses, that they may learn to 
speak. I saw no beast of any kind except parrots on this 
island. . . ." 



The Discovery of America 



13 



3. Letter from Columbus to Ferdinand and Isabella 
Concerning the Colonization and Commerce of 
THE Island of Hispaniola 

This letter, which was written during the year 1493, before Co- 
lumbus set out on his second expedition, has been said to entitle 
him to the honor to be considered "the pioneer law-giver of the 
New World." — (The translation is the one used by W. E. Curtis in 
the Report of the American Historical Association, 1894, pp. 452-4o.5. 
A slightly different translation is given in Original Narratives of 
Early American History, The Northmen, Columbus, and Cabot, 
pp. 273-277.) 

Most High and Powerful Sirs: In obedience to what 
your Highnesses command me, I shall state what occurs to 
me for the peopling and settling of the Hispaniola Island 
and of all others, whether already discovered or hereafter 
to be discovered, submitting myself, however, to any better 
opinion. 

In the first place, and in regard to the Hispaniola Island, 
I should suggest the number of settlers who may be found 
willing to go there to be up to two thousand, so as to render 
the possession of the country safer and cause it to be more 
profitable. This will aid also in facilitating intercourse and 
dealings with the neighboring islands. 

I suggest further three or four towns to be founded at con- 
venient places, and the new settlers or colonists to be properly 
distributed among said towns. 

And in order to secure the better and prompter settlement 
of the said island, I should suggest furthermore that the 
privilege of getting gold be granted exclusively to those who 
have acquired a domicile and built a dwelling house in the 
town of their residence, so as to secure for them all to live 
close to each other and be better protected. 

And also, that each town be given, as is customary in 
Castile, a mayor and a clerk. 

And furthermore, that a church be built, and that secular 
priests or friars be sent there for the administration of the 



Number of 
settlers. 



Founding 
towns. 



Special 
privilege 
to house- 
holders. 



GfHcers. 



Churches. 



14 



Readings in American History 



Permits 
for gold- 
hunters. 



Provision 
for 

building 
churches. 



Division 
of gold. 



sacraments, the conversion of the Indians, and the proper 
worship of the Divinity. 

And further, that no colonist be allowed to go and gather 
gold unless with a permit from the governor or mayor of 
the town in which he lives, to be given only upon his promis- 
ing under oath to return to the place of his residence and 
faithfully report all the gold which he may have gathered, 
this to be done once a month, or once a week, as may be 
ordered to him, the said report to be entered on the proper 
registry by the clerk of the town in the presence of the 
mayor, and if so deemed advisable, in the presence of a 
friar or secular priest selected for the purpose. 

And further, that all the gold so gathered be melted right 
away, and melted and stamped subsequently with such a 
mark or seal as the town may have devised and selected, and 
that the share of that gold which belongs to your Highnesses 
be given and delivered to the mayor of the town, the proper 
record thereof being made by the clerk and by the secular 
priest or friar who may witness to it, so as to cause the trans- 
action to be known by more than one person and rendering 
tiie concealing of the truth impossible. 

Furthermore, that all the gold which may be found with- 
out the mark or seal aforesaid in the possession of any one 
who formerly had reported once as aforesaid, be forfeited 
and divided by halves, one for the informer and the other 
for your Highnesses. 

And further, that one per cent of all the gold gathered be 
set apart and appropriated for building churches and pro- 
viding for their proper furnishing and ornamentation, and 
to the support of the secular priests or friars having them in 
their charge, and if so deemed advisable for the payment of 
some compensation to the mayors and clerks of the respect- 
ive towns, so as to cause them to fulfill their duties faith- 
fully, and that the balance be delivered to the governor and 
treasurer sent there by your Highnesses. 

And further, and in regard to the division of the gold and 
the setting apart the share which belongs to your Highnesses, 



The Discovery oj America 



15 



I am of the opinion that the operation must be entrusted 
to the said governor and treasurer, because the amount of 
the gold found may sometimes be large and sometimes small, 
and, if so deemed advisable, that the share of your Highnesses 
be established for one year to be one-half, the other half 
going to the gatherers, reserving for a future time to make 
some other and better provision, if necessary. 

And further, that if the mayors and clerks commit any 
fraud in these matters, or consent to it, the proper punish- 
ment be inflicted upon them, and that a penalty be likewise 
imposed upon those colonists who do not report in full the 
whole amount of the gold which is in their possession. 

And further, that a treasurer be appointed and sent to 
the said island, who shall receive all the gold belonging to 
your Highnesses, and shall have a clerk to make and keep 
the proper record of the receipts, and that the mayors and 
clerks of the respective towns be given the proper vouchers 
for everything which they may deliver to the said treasurer. 

And further, that whereas the extreme anxiety of the 
colonists to gather gold may induce them to neglect all other 
business and occupations, it seems to me that prohibition 
should be made to them to engage in the search of gold dur- 
ing some season of the year, so as to give all other business, 
profitable to the island, an opportunity to be established 
and carried on. 

And further, as far as the business of discovering other 
lands is concerned, it is my opinion that permission to do 
so should be given to every one who desires to embark in 
it, and that some liberality should be shown in reducing the 
fifth to be given away, so as to encourage as many as possi- 
ble for entering into such undertakings. . . . 

And further, that all vessels coming from the said island 
must come to unload to the port of Cadiz, and that no per- 
son shall be allowed to leave the vessels or get in them 
until such person or persons of the said city as may be ap- 
pointed for this purpose bj' your Highnesses have boarded 
the same vessels and received information from the masters 



Penalty 

for 

fraud. 



Search for 
gold not to 
be only 
occupa- 
tion. 



Induce- 
ment for 
further 
discover- 
ies. 



Cadiz the 
only port 
of 
entrance. 



IG Rcadiny.'j in American History 

of all that they have brought, and the official statement of 
the nature and value of the cargoes, so as to facilitate a 
thorough examination and find out whether anything has 
been brought hidden and not declared in the manifests at 
the time of shipment. . . . 

S. 

S. A. S. 

X. M. Y. 

Xpo-Ferens.* 
Sent by the Admiral. 

* Meaning of the monogram has not been determined. 



CHAPTER II 
SPANISH EXPLORATION AND COLONIZATION 

4. Spanish Motives for Colonization ■ 

"A relation of the commodities of Nova Hispania and the man- 
ners of the inhabitants, written by Henry Hawks, merchant, which 
hved five years in the said country and drew the same at the re- 
quest of Mr. Richard HakUiyt, 1572."— (Richard Hakluyt, The 
Third and Last Volume of the Voyages, Navigations, TrafRques, 
and Discoveries of the English Nation, pp. 462-469. London, 
1600.) 

Saint John de Ulloa is an island not high above the 
water, where as now the Spaniards upon Mr. John Hawkins 
being there, are in making a strong fort. In this place all 
the ships that come out of Spaine for these parts do unlade; 
for they have none .other port so good as this. . . . 

Five leagues from Saint John de Ulloa is a fair river; it vera 
lieth northwest from the port and goeth to a little town of ^'"u^* 
the Spaniards called Vera Cruz, and with small vessels and 
barks which they call frigates, they carry all their merchan- 
dise which Cometh out of Spain to the said town; and in 
like manner bring all the gold, silver, cochinillas, hides and 
all other things that the ships carry into Spain unto them. 
And the goods being in Vera Cruz, they carry them to 
Mexico, and to Pueblo de los Angeles, Sucatecas, and Saint 
Martin, and divers other places so far within the country, 
that some of them are se\en hundred miles off, and some 
more and some less, all upon horses, mules, and in wains 
drawn with oxen, and in cars drawn with mules. 

17 



18 



Readings in American History 



Mos- 
quitos. 



Irrigation. 



City of 
Mexico. 



Fairs. 



This town is inclined to many kinds of diseases, by reasor 
of the great heat, and a certain gnat or fly which they cul 
a musquito, which biteth both men and women in theii 
sleep; and as soon as they are bitten, incontinently th( 
flesh swelleth as though they had been bitten by a venemoui 
worm. And this musquito or gnat doth most follow such a; 
are newly come into the country. Many there are thai 
die of this annoyance. 

This hot or sick country continueth five and forty milei 
towards the city of Mexico; and the five and forty mile: 
being passed, then there is a temperate country, and full o 
tillage; but they water all their corn with rivers which the\ 
turn in upon it. And they gather their wheat twice a year 
And if they should not water the ground where their corn i; 
sown, the country is so hot it would burn all. 

Before you come to Mexico there is a great town callet 
Tlaxcalla, which hath in it above sixteen thousand house 
holds. All the inhabitants thereof are free by the kings o 
Spain; for these were the occasion that Mexico was won ii 
so short a time, and with so little loss of men. Wherefori 
they are all gentlemen, and pay no tribute to the king. Ii 
this town is all the cochinilla growing. 

Mexico is a great city; it hath more than fifty thousant 
households, whereof there are not past five or six thousan( 
houses of Spaniards; all the other are of the people of th( 
country that live under the Spaniard's laws. There are ir 
this city stately buildings, and many monasteries of friar 
and nuns, which the Spaniards have made. And the build 
ing of the Indians is somewhat beautiful outwardly, ant 
within full of small chambers, with very small windows 
which is not so comely as the building of the Spaniards 
Th's city standeth in the midst of a great lake, and the watei 
goeth through all or the most part of the streets, and then 
come small boats, which they call canoes, and in them the\ 
bring all things necessary, as wood, and coals, and grass foi 
their horses, stones and lime to build, and corn. 

This city is subject to many earthquakes, which often^ 



Spanish Exploration and Colonization 19 

times cast down houses and kill people. This city is very 
well provided of water to drink, and with all manner of 
victuals. There are, in this city, every week three fairs 
or markets which are frequented with many people, as well 
Spaniards as people of the country. There are in these fairs 
or markets all manner of things that may be invented to 
sell, and in especial things of the country. The one of these 
fairs is on Monday and is called Saint Hippolytus fair, and 
Saint James' fair is upon the Thursday, and upon Saturday 
is Saint John's fair. In this city is always the king's governor Courts, 
or viceroy, and there are kept the Terms (courts) and Parlia- 
ments. And, although there be other places of justice, yet 
this is above all; so that all men may appeal to this place, 
and may not appeal from this city, but only into Spain before 
the King; and it must be for a certain sum, and if it be under 
that sum, there is no appellation from them. Many rivers 
fall into this lake which the city standeth in; but there was 
never any place found whither it goeth out. 

The Indians know a way to drown the city, and within Hatred of 
these three years they would have practised the same; but ^^'^''*'^^- 
they which should have been the doers of it were hanged, 
and ever since the city hath been well watched both night 
and day, for fear lest at some time they might be deceived, 
for the Indians love not the Spaniards. Round about the 
town there are very many gardens and orchards of the 
fruits of the country, marvellous fair, where the people have 
great recreation. 

There are near about this city of Mexico many rivers and Alligators, 
standing waters which have in them a monstrous kind of 
fish, which is marvellous ravening, and a great devourer of 
men and cattle. He is wont to sleep upon the dry land many 
times, and if there come, in the mean time, any man or 
beast and wake or disquiet him, he speedeth well if he get 
from him. He is like unto a serpent, saving that he doth 
not fly, neither hath he wings. 

There is west out of Mexico a port town which is on the Port of 
South sea, called Puerto de Acapulco, whereas there are ■'^^^p'^co. 



20 



Readings in American Ilisiory 



ships which they have ordinarily for the navigation of China, 
which they have newly found. This port is three score 
leagues from Mexico. 

There is another port town wliicli is called Culiacun, on 
the South sea, which lieth west by north out of Mexico and 
is 200 leagues from the same; and there the Spaniards made 
two ships to go seek the strait or gulf, which, as they say, 
is between the Newfoundland and Greenland; and they 
call it the Englishmens' strait; which as yet was never fully 
found. They say, that strait lieth not far from the main- 
land of China, which the Spaniards account to be marvel- 
lous rich. 

Toward the north from Mexico, there are great store of 
silver mines. There is greater quantity of silver found in 
these mines toward the north than there is in any other 
parts. These mines are commonly upon great hills and 
stony ground, marvellous hard to he labored and wrought. 

In this country of Nova Hispania there are also mines of 
gold, although the gold l)e commonly found in rivers, or 
very near unto rivers. And now, in these days, there is not 
so much gold found as there hath been heretofore. 

The Spaniards have notice of seven cities which old men 
of the Indians show them should lie toward the northwest 
from Mexico. They have used, and use daily, much diligence 
in seeking of them, but they cannot find any one of them. 
They say that the witchcraft of the Indians is such, that 
when they come by these towns, they cast a mist upon them 
so that they cannot see them. 

They have understanding of another city which they call 
Copulla; and in like manner, at my being in the country, 
they have used much labor and diligence in the seeking of it. 
They have found the lake on which it should stand, and a 
canoe, the head whereof was wrought with copper curiously, 
and could not find nor see any man, nor the town which to 
their understanding should stand on the same water, or 
very near the same. 

There is a great number of beasts or kine in the country 



Spanish Exploration and Colonization 21 

of Cibola, which were never brought hither by the Spaniards, Buffaloes, 
but breed naturally in the country. They are like unto our 
oxen, saving that they have long hair like a lion, and short 
horns, and they have upon their shoulders a bunch like a 
camel, which is higher than the rest of their body. They 
are marvellous wild and swift in running. They call them 
the beasts or kine of Cibola. 

This Cibola is a city which the Spaniards found now of 
late, without any people in the same, goodly buildings, fair 
chimneys, windows made of stone and timber excellently 
wrought, fair wells with wheels to draw their water, and a 
place where they buried their dead people, with many fair 
stones upon the graves. And the captain would not suffer 
his soldiers to break up any part of these graves, saying, he 
would come another time to do it. 

They asked certain people which they met, whither the 
people of this city were gone; and they made answer, they 
were gone down a river, which was there by, very great, 
and there had builded a city which was more for their com- 
modity. 

The captain, lacking things necessary for himself and his 
men, was fain to return back again, without finding any 
treasure according to his expectation; neither found they 
but few people, although they found beaten ways which had 
been much haunted and frequented. The captain at his 
coming back again, had a great check of the governor, be- 
cause he had not gone forwards, and seen the end of that 
river. 

The people of the country are of good stature, tawny- Indian 
colored, broad-faced, flat-nosed, and given much to drink 
both wine of Spain and also a certain kind of wine which they 
make with honey of Magueiz, and roots, and other things 
which they use to put into the same. They call the same 
wine Pulco. They are soon drunk, and given to much 
beastliness, and void of all goodness. Whereupon they are 
defended from the drinking of wines, upon pains of money, 
as well he that selleth the wines as the Indian that drinketh 



traits. 



22 Readings in American History 

the same. And if this commandment were not, all the wine 
in Spain and France were not sufficient for the West Indies 
only. 

They are of much simplicity and great cowards, void of 
all valor, and are great witches. They used divers times to 
talk with the devil, to whom they do certain sacrifices and 
oblations; many times they have been taken with the same, 
and I have seen them most cruelly punished for that offence. 

The people are given to learn all manner of occupations 
and sciences (trades), which for the most part, they learned 
since the coming of the Spaniards; I say, all manner of arts. 
They are very artificial in making of images with feathers, 
or the proportion or figure of any man, in all kind of manner 
as he is. The fineness and excellency of this is wonderful, 
that a barbarous people as they are, should give themselves 
to so fine an art as this is. They are goldsmiths, blacksmiths, 
and coppersmiths, carpenters, masons, shoemakers, tailors, 
sadlers, embroiderers, and of all other kinds of sciences; and 
they will do work so good cheap, that poor young men that 
go out of Spain to get their living, are not set on work; 
which is the occasion there are many idle people in the 
country. For the Indian will live all the week on one groat; 
which the Spaniard cannot do, nor any man else. They have 
no care for anything, but only from day to day for that 
which they have need to eat. 

The Indians have the friars in great reverence. The occa- 
sion is that by them and by their means they are free and 
out of bondage, which was so ordained by Charles the em- 
peror; which is the occasion that now there is not so much 
gold and silver coming into Europe, as there was while the 
Indians were slaves. For when they were in bondage they 
could not choose but do their task every day, and bring 
their masters so much metal out of their mines; but now 
they must be well paid and much entreated to have them 
work. So it hath been, and is a great hinderance to the 
owners of the mines and to the kings quinto or custom. 

There are many mines of copper in great quantity, whereof 



Spanish Exploration and Colonization 23 

they spend in the country as much as serveth their turns. 
There is some gokl in it, hut not so much as will pay the Copper 
costs of the [re]fining. The quantity of it is such, and the ^° ^° " 
mines are so far from the sea, that it will not be worth the 
freight to carry it into Spain. On the other side, the king's 
officers will give no license to make ordinance thereof; where- 
upon mines lie unlabored and of no valuation. 

The pomp and liberality of the owners of the mines is Wealth 
marvellous to behold; the apparel both of them and of their owners." 
wives is more to be compared to the apparel of noble persons 
than otherwise. If their wives go out of their houses, as 
unto the church, or any other place, they go out with great 
majesty, and with as many men and maids as though she 
were the wife of some nobleman. I will assure you, I have 
seen a miner's wife go to the church with an hundred men, 
and twenty gentlewomen and maids. They keep open 
house; who will, may come to eat their meat. They call 
men with a bell to come to dinner and supper. They are 
princes in keeping of their houses, and bountiful in all man- 
ner of things. 

A good owner of mines must have at the least an hundred 
slaves to carry and to stamp his metals ; he must have many 
mules, and men to keep the mines; he must have mills to 
stamp his metals; he must have many wains and oxen to 
bring home wood to fine his metals; he must have much 
quick-silver, and a marvellous quantity of salt brine for the 
metals; and he must be at many other charges. And as 
for this charge of quick-silver, it is a new invention, which 
they find more profitable than to fine their ore with lead. 
Howbeit, the same is very costly; for there is never a hun- 
dred of quick-silver but costeth at the least three score 
pounds sterling. And the mines fall daily in decay and of 
less value; and the occasion is, the few Indians that men 
have to labor their mines. 

The Indians are much favored by the Justices of the Justice to 
country, and they call them their orphans. And if any 
Spaniard should happen to do any of them harm, or to wrong 



24 Readings in American History 

him in taking anything from him, as many times they do, 
or to strike any of them, being in any town where, a justice 
is, they are as well punished for the same as if they had 
done it one Spaniard to another. When the Spaniard is far 
from Mexico or any place of justice, thinking to do with the 
poor Indian what he list, considering he is so far from any 
place of remedy, he maketh the Indian do what he com- 
mandeth him, and if he will not do it, he l)eateth and 
misuseth him, according to his own appetite. The Indian 
holdeth his peace until he find an opportunity, and then 
taketh a neighbor with him and goeth to Mexico, although 
it be twenty leagues off, and maketh his complaint. This 
his complaint is immediately heard, and though it be a 
knight or a right good gentleman, he is forthwith sent for, 
and punished both by his goods and also his person is im- 
prisoned, at the pleasure of the Justice. This is the occasion 
that the Indians are so tame and civil, as they are; and if 
they should not have this favor, the Spanish woidd soon 
dispatch all the Indians, or the Indians would kill them. 
But they may call them dogs or other evil words, and the 
Indian must needs put it up and go his way. 

Montezuma, which was the last king of this country, was 
one of the richest princes that have been seen in our time or 
long before. He had all kind of beasts which were then in 
the country, and all manner of birds and fishes, and all 
manner of worms which creep upon the earth, and all trees, 
and flowers, and herbs, all fashionefl in silver and gold, 
which was the greatest part of all his treasure, and in these 
things he had great joy, as the old Indians report. And 
unto this day, they say that the treasure of Montezuma is 
hidden, and that the Spaniards have it not. This King 
would give none of his people freedom, nor forgive any of 
them that should pay him tribute, though he were never so 
poor. He had as many wives and concubines, as he would 
have, and such as liked him. Always, whenever he went 
out of his Court to pass the time, he was borne upon four of 
his noblemen's shoulders set upon a table, some say of gold. 



Spanish Exploration and Colonization 



25 



and very richly dressed with feathers of divers and many 
colors and flowers. He washed all his body every day, were 
it never so cold. And unto this day, so do all the Indians, 
and especially the women. 

The Spaniards keep the Indians in great subjection. 
They may have in their houses no sword nor dagger, nor 
knife with any point, nor may wear upon them any manner 
of arms. Neither may they ride upon any horse nor mule, 
in any saddle nor bridle, neither may they drink wine, which 
they take for the greatest pain of all. They have attempted 
divers times to make insurrections, but they have been over- 
thrown immediately by their own great and beastly coward- 
liness. 



5. Expedition of De Soto, 1539-42 

By "A Portugall Gentleman of Eluas." The real name of the 
writer is unknown, but he accompanied De Soto on his expedition. 
— (Richard Hakluyt, Voyages, II, pp. 1-131. London, 1609.) 

Captaine Soto was the son of a squire of Xercz of Badaioz. 
He went into the Spanish Indies, when Peter Arias of Auila 
was governour of the West Indies : and there he was without 
any thing else of his owne, save his sword and target; and 
for his good qualities and valour, Peter Arias made him 
Captaine of a troope of horsemen, and by his commandement 
hee went with Fernando Pizarro to the conquest of Peru: 
where (as many persons of credit reported, which were there 
present) as well as the taking of Atahalipa, Lord of Peru, as 
at the assault of the citie of Cusco, and in all other places 
where they found resistance, wheresoeuer hee was present, 
hee passed all other Captaines and principall persons. For 
which cause, besides his part of the treasure of Atabalipa, 
he had a good share: whereby in time he gathered an hundred 
and four-score thousand Duckets together, with that which 
fell to his part: which he brought into Spainc: whereof the 
Emperour borrowed a certaine part, which he repaied againe 
with 60,000 Rials of plate in the rent of the silkes of Granada, 



De Soto 
accom- 
panies 
Pizarro 
to Peru. 



26 



Readings in American History 



and all the rest was deliuered him in the Contractation house 
of Siuil [Seville]. . . . The Emperour made him the govern- 
our of the Isle of Cuba, and Adelantado or president of 
Florida ; with a title of Marques of certaine part of the lands, 
that he should conquer. 

WTien Don Ferdinando had obtained the gouernment, 
there came a Gentleman from the Indies to the Court, named 
Cabega de Vaca, which had been with the Governour Pamphilo 
de Naruaez which died in Florida, who reported that Naruaez 
was cast away at sea with all the companie yt went with 
him. And how he with foure more escaped and arriued in 
Nucnua Espanna; Also he brought a relation in writing of 
that which hee had scene in Florida ; . . . Generally he re- 
ported the miserie of the Countrie, and the troubles which 
he passed; and hee told some of his kinsfolke, which were 
desirous to goe into the Indies, and urged him very much to 
tell them whether he had scene any rich country in Florida ; 
. . . And hee informed them, that it was the richest Countrie 
of the u'orld. Don Ferdinando de Soto was very desirous to 
have him with him, and made him a favourable offer; and 
after they were agreed, because Soto gave him not a summe of 
money which he demanded to buy a ship, they broke off 
againe. . . . 

In the yeere of our Lord 1538, in the month of Aprill, the 
Adelantado delivered his shippes to the Captaines which 
were to goe in them; and took for himself e a new ship, and 
good of saile, . . . 

On Sunday the 18. of May, in the yeere of our Lord, 1539, 
the Adelantado or president departed . from Havana in Cuba 
with his fleete, which were nine vessels, five great ships, two 
carauels, and two brigantines: They sailed seven daies with 
a prosperous wind, . . . On Friday the 30. of May they 
landed in Florida, . . . They set on land two hundred and 
thirteene horses, . . . Hee landed all his men, and only the 
sea men remained in the shippes, . . . 

From the Port dr Spirifo Santo where the Governour lay, 
he sent the Alcalde Mayor Baltasar de Gallegos with 50 horse- 



Spanish Exploration and Colonization 27 

men and 30, or 40, footemen to the province of Paracossi, to 
view the disposition of the eountrie, and enforme himselfe 
of the land farther inward, and to send him word of such 
things as he found. . . . Baltasar came to the Paracossi. 
. . . He asked them if they knew or had notice of any rich 
eountrie where there was gold or silver. They told them, 
they did : and that toward the West, there was a Prouince 
which was called Calc; and that others that inhabited other 
Countries had warre with the people of that Countrie, where 
the most part of the yeere was sommer, and that there was 
much gold ; and that when those their enemies came to make 
warre with them of Calc, these inhabitants of Cale did weare 
hats of gold, in manner of head pieces. . . . 

Hee [De Soto] left Captaine Caldcron at the Port, with De Soto 
thirtie horsemen, and seventie footemen, with prouision for ^^^ °"^ *° 
two yeeres, and himselfe with all the rest marched into the great river. 
maine land, and came to the Paracossi, at whose towne 
Baltasar de Gallegos was; and from thence with all his men 
took the way to Cale. . . . 

Upon Monday the sixt of March 1542, the Gouvernour 
departed from Antiamque to seek Nilco, which the Indians 
said was neere the Great river, with determination to come 
to the Sea, and procure some succour of men and horses; 
for hee had now but three hundred men of warre, and fortie 
horses, and some of them lame, which did nothing but helpe 
to make up the number; and for want of iron they had 
gone above a yeere unshod: . . . When he had passed the 
River there fell out such weather, that foure dales he could 
not travell for snow. Assoone as it gave ouer snowing, he 
went three dales journey through a Wildernesse, and a 
countrie so low, and so full of lakes and ewill waies, that hee 
travelled one time a whole day in water, sometimes knee 
deepe, sometimes to the stirrup, and sometimes they 
swamme. . . . 

This River which passed by Nilco was that which passed 
by Coyas and Antiamque, and fell into Rio grande, or the 
Great Riuer [Mississippi], which passed by Pachaba and 



28 lic(i(li)i(js in Amrriran iiistnrjj 

Aquixo- ncere into the j)rovinco of Guachoi/a: . . . Within 
few daies the Governour determined to goe to Guachoya, to 
learne there whether the Sea was neere ... As he passed 
the Riuer of Nilco, there came in canoes Indians of Guachoiia 
up the streame, and when they saw him, supposing that he 
came to seeke them to doe them some hurt, they returned 
downe the River and informed the Cacique thereof; who with 
all his people, spoiling the towne of all that they could carrie 
away, passed that night over to the other side of Rio graiidc, 
or the great River. The Governour sent a Captainc with 
fifty men in sixe canoes downe the Riuer, and went himselfe 
by land with the rest; hee came to Guachoya upon Sunday 
the 17. of Aprill; he lodged in the towne of the Cacique 
which was inclosed about, and seated a crossebow shot dis- 
tant from the River. . . . 

As soone as the Governour came to Guachoya, hee sent 
John Damisco with as many men as could goe in the canoes 
up the River. For when they came downe from Xiico they 
saw on the other side the River new cabins made. John 
Damusco went and brought the canoes loden with Maiz, 
French beanes. Prunes, and many loaves made of the sub- 
stance of prunes. That day came an Indian to the Govern- 
our, from the Cacique of Guachoi/a, and said, that his Lord 
would come next day. The next day they saw many canoes 
come vp the Ri\er, ... In them came the Cacique of 
Guachoya, and brought with him manie Indians with great 
store of Fish, Dogges, Deeres skinnes, and mantles: and 
assoone as they landed, they went to the lodging of the Go\- 
ernour, and presented him their gifts, . . . 



CHAPTER III 

THE RIVALRY OF NATIONS IN THE SIXTEENTH 
CENTURY 

6. The Expedition of John Cabot, 1497 

Letter from Lorenzo Pasqualigo to his Brothers Alvise and 
Francesco. — (Clements R. Markham, translator and editor. The 
Journal of Christopher Columbus and Documents Relating to the 
Voyages of John Cabot and Caspar Corte Real, pp. 201-206, 
Hakluyt Society PubHcations. London, 1893.) 

London, 23rd August, 1497. Discovery 
Our Venetian, who went with a small ship from Bristol Gran cam. 
to find new islands, has come back, and says he has discov- 
ered, 700 leagues ofY, the mainland of the country of the 
Gran Cam [China], and that he coasted along it for 300 
leagues, and landed, but did not see any person. But he has 
brought here to the king certain snares spread to take game 
and a needle for making nets, and he found some notched 
trees, from which he judged that there were inhabitants. 
Being in doubt, he came back to the ship. He has been 
away three months on the voyage, which is certain, and, in 
returning, he saw two islands to the right, but he did not 
wish to land, lest he should lose time, for he was in want of 
provisions. The king has been much pleased. He says that 
the tides are slack, and do not make currents as they do here. 
The king has promised for another time, ten armed ships as 
he desires, and has given him all the prisoners, except such 
as are confined for high treason, to go with him as he has 
requested; and has granted him money to amuse himself 

29 



30 



Readings in American History 



till then. Meanwhile, he is with his Venetian wife and his 
sons at Bristol. His name is Zuani Talbot and he is called 
the Great Admiral, great honour being paid to him, and he 
goes dressed in silk. The English are ready to go with him, 
and so are many of our rascals. The discoverer of these 
things has planted a large cross in the ground with a banner 
of England, and one of St. Mark, as he is a Venetian; so 
that our flag has been hoisted very far away. 

Extra£t from the Privy Purse Accounts, Henry VH. 

Reward for John Cabot, 10th Aug. 1497. To hym that 
founde the new isle, £lO. 

First Despatch of Raimondo di Soncitio to the Duke of 
Milan (extract), 

24th August 1497. 

Some months afterwards His Majesty sent a Venetian, 
who is a distinguished sailor, and who was much skilled in 
the discovery of new islands, and he has returned safe, and 
has discovered two very large and fertile islands, having it 
would seem, discovered the seven cities, 400 leagues from 
England to the westward. These successes led His Majesty 
at once to entertain the intention of sending him with fifteen 
or twenty vessels. 

Second Despatch of Raimondo Di Soncino to the Duke of 
Milan. 

18th. December, 1497. 
My most illustrious and most excellent Lord, — 
Perhaps amidst so many occupations of your Excellency 
it will not be unwelcome to learn how his Majesty has ac- 
quired a part of Asia without drawing his sword. In this 
kingdom there is a certain Venetian named Zoanne Caboto, 
of gentle disposition, very expert in navigation, who seeing 
that the most serene Kings of Portugal and Spain had occu- 
pied unknown islands, meditated the achievement of a sim- 



The Rivalry of Nations 31 

ilar acquisition for the said Majesty. Having obtained 
royal privileges securing to himself the use of the dominions 
he might discover, the sovereignty being reserved to the 
crown, he entrusted his fortune to a small vessel with a 
crew of 18 persons, and set out from Bristo, a port in the 
western part of this kingdom. Having passed Ibernia, 
which is still further to the west and then shaped a northerly 
course, he began to navigate to the eastern part, leaving 
(during several days) the North Star on the right hand; and 
having wandered thus for a long time, at length he hit upon 
land, where he hoisted the royal standard, and took posses- 
sion for his Highness, and, having obtained various proofs 
of his discovery, he returned. The said Messer Zoanne, 
being a foreigner and poor, would not have been believed if 
the crew, who are nearly all English, and belonging to Bristo, 
had not testified that what he said was the truth. This 
Messer Zoanne has the description of the world on a chart, 
and also on a solid sphere, which he has constructed, and on 
which he shows where he has been; and, proceeding towards 
the east, he has passed as far as the country of the Tanais. 
And they say that there the land is excellent and temperate. Character 
suggesting that brasil [dye-wood] and silk grow there. They "and dis- 
affirm that the sea is full of fish, which are not only taken covered. 
with a net, but also with a basket, a stone being fastened to 
it in order to keep it in the water; and this I have heard 
stated by the said Messer Zoanne. 

The said Englishmen, his companions, say that they took 
so many fish that this kingdom will no longer have need of 
Iceland, from which country there is an immense trade in 
the fish they call stock-fish. But Messer Zoanne has set 
his mind on higher things, for he thinks that, when that 
place has been occupied, he will keep on still further to the 
east, where he will be opposite to an island called Cipango 
[Japan] situated in the equinoctial region, where he believes 
that all the spices of the world, as well as the jewels are found. 
He further says that he was once at Mecca, whither the spices 
are brought by caravans from distant countries; and having 



I 



a second 
expedition 



32 Readings in American Htfitonj 

inquired from whence they were brought and where they 
grow, they answered they did not know, but that such mer- 
chandize was brought from distant countries by other cara- 
vans to their home; and tliey further say that they are also 
conveyed from other remote regions. And he adduced this 
argument, that if the eastern people tell those in the south 
that these things come from a far distance from them, pre- 
supposing the rotundity of the earth, it must be that the last 
turn would be by the north towards the west; and it is said 
that in this way the route would not cost more than it costs 
now, and I also believe it. And what is more, His Majesty, 
who is wise and not prodigal, reposes such trust in him be- 
cause of what he has already achieved, that he gives him a 
good maintenance, as Messer Zoanne has himself told me. 
Plans for And it is said that before long his Majesty will arm some 
ships for him, and will give him all the malefactors to go to 
that country and form a colony, so that they hope to establish 
a greater depot of spices in London than there is in Alex- 
andria. The principal people in the enterprise belong to 
Bristo. They are good seamen, and now that they know 
where to go, they say that the voyage thither will not oc- 
cupy them more than 15 days after leaving Ibernia. I have 
also spoken with a Burgundian, who was a companion of 
Messer Zoanne, who affirms all this, and who wishes to re- 
turn because the Admiral (for so Messer Zoanne is so entitled) 
has given him an island, and has given another to his barber 
of Castione [Castiglione] who is a Genoese, and both look 
upon themselves as counts; nor do they look upon my Lord 
the Admiral as less than a Prince. I also believe that some 
poor Italian friars are going on this voyage, who have all 
had bishopricks promised to them. And if I had made 
friends with the Admiral when he was about to sail, I should 
have got an archbishoprick at least; but I have thought that 
the benefits reserved for me by your Excellency will be 
more secure. I would venture to pray that, in the event of 
a vacancy taking place in my absence, I may be put in posses- 
sion, and that I may not be superseded by those, who being 



The Rivalry of Natiom^ 



33 



present, can be more diligent than I, who am reduced in this 
country to eating at each meal ten or twelve kinds of victuals, 
and to being three hours at table every day, two for love of 
your Excellency, to whom I humbly recommend myself. 
London, 18 Dec. 1497, your Excellency's most humble 
servant. 

Raimundus. 



m 



7. Cartier's Description of Hochelaga, 1535 

In April, 1534, Jacques Cartier, a native of St. Malo, France, 
under orders from Francis I, set out with two vessels of sixty tons 
each to extend the bounds of France. During his absence of six 
months he explored the St. Lawrence "until land could be seen on 
either side." The expedition was regarded as successful, and Car- 
tier set out on a second expedition in Maj', 1535. The account of 
Hochelaga was written by Cartier himself. — (Richard Hakluj't, 
Voyages, III, pp. 213-236. London, 1600.) 

In the yeere of our Lord 1535, upon Whitsunday, being Theex- 
the 16 of May, by the commandement of our Captaine James ^ °°' 
Cartier, and with a common accord, in the Cathedrall 
Church of S. Malo we devoutly each one confessed our 
selves, and received the Sacrament: and all entring into the 
Quier of a sayd Church, wee presented our selves before the 
Reverend Father in Christ, the Lord Bishop of S. Malo, 
who blessed us all, being in his Bishops roabes. The 
Wednesday following, being the 19 of May, there arose a 
good gale of wind, and therefore we hoysed sayle with three 
ships. ... So we sayled with a good and prosperous wind, 
untill the 20 of the said moneth. 

Now our Captaine with five Gentlemen and twentie armed 
men all well in order, went to see the toune of Hochelaga, 
and the situation of it. 

Our Captaine the next day very earely in the morning, Cartier's 
having very gorgeously attired himself, caused all his com- Hochelaga 
pany to be set in order to go to see the toune and habitation 
of these people, and a certaine mountaine that is somewhat 
neere the citie: with whom went also five gentlemen and 



34 Readings in American History 

twentie mariners, leaving the rest to keepe and looke to our 
boates: we tooke with us three men of Hochelaga to bring 
us to the place. All along as we went we found the way as 
well beaten and frequented as can be, the fairest and best 
country that possibly can be scene, full of as goodly great 
okes as are in an wood in France, under which the ground 
was all covered over with faire Akornes. After we had gone 
about foure or five miles, we met by the way one of the 
chiefest Lords of the citie, accompanied with many more, 
who so soone as he sawe us beckned and made signes upon 
us, that we must rest in that place where they had made a 
great fire and so we did. After that we had rested our selves 
there awhile, the said Lord began to make a long discourse, 
even as we have said above, they are accustomed to doe in 
signe of mirth and friendship, shewing our Capitaine and all 
his company a joyfull countenance, and good will, who gave 
him two hatchets, a pair of knives and a crosse which he 
made him to kisse, and then put it about his necke, for which 
he gave our Captaine heartie thanks. This done, we went 
along, and about a mile and a half farther, we began to finde 
goodly and large fieldes, full of such come as the countrie 
yeeldeth. It is even as the Millet of Bresil, as great and 
somewhat bigger than small peas, wherewith they live even 
as we do with ours. In the midst of those fields is the citie 
of Hochelaga, placed neere, and as it were joyned to a great 
mountaine that is tilled round about, very fertill, on the 
top of which you may see very farre, we named it Mount 
Descrip- Roiall. The citie of Hochelaga is round, compassed about 
the^town. with timber, with three course of Rampires, one within 
another framed like a sharp Spire but laid across above. 
The middlemost of them is made and built, as a direct line 
but peipendicular. The Rampires are framed and fashioned 
with peeces of timber, layd along on the ground, very well 
and cunningly joined together after their fashion. This en- 
closure is in height about two rods. It hath but one gate or 
entry thereat, which is shut with piles, stakes, and barres. 
Over it, and also in many t)laces of the wall, there be places 



The Rivalry of Nations 35 

to runne along, and ladders to get up, all full of stones for 
the defence of it. There are in the toune about fiftie houses, 
about fiftie paces long, and twelve or fiftiene broad, built all 
of wood, covered over with the barke of the wood as broad 
as any boord, very finely and cunningly joined together. 
Within the said houses, there are many roomes, lodgings and 
chambers. In the middest of every one there is a great 
Court, in the middle whereof they make their fire. They 
live in common together: there doe the husbands, wives and 
children each one retire themselves to their chambers. 
They have also on the tops of their houses certaine garrets, 
wherein they keepe their corne to make their bread withall: 
they call it Carraconny, which they make as hereafter shall 
follow. They have certain peeces of wood, made hollow 
like those whereon we beate our hempe, and with certain 
beetles of wood they beat their corne to powder: then they 
make a paste of it, and of the paste, cakes or wreathes, then 
they lay them on a broad and hote stone, and then cover it 
with hot stones, and so they bake their bread instead of 
Ovens. They make also sundry sorts of pottage with the 
said corne and also of pease and beanes, whereof they have 
great store, as also with other fruits, as Mushe-Millions, and 
very great cowcumbers. They have also in their houses 
certaine vessels as bigge as any But or Tun, wherein they 
preserve and keep their fish, causing the same in sommer to 
be dried in the sunne, and live therewith in winter, whereof 
they make great provision, as we by experience have scene. 
All their viands and meates are without any taste or savor of 
salt at all. They sleepe upon barkes of trees laid all along 
upon the ground being overspread with the skinnies of cer- 
taine wilde Beastes, wherewith they also cloth and cover 
themselves. . . . 



CHAPTER IV 



VIRGINIA AND MARYLAND 



8. Instructions for the Voyage to Virginia 



Place for 

settlement. 



Precau- 
tions 

against 
the enemy. 



(Captain John Smith, Works, edited by Edward Arber, Vol. I, 
xxxiii. Birmingham, England, 18S4.) 

Advice of the Council to the captains and company sent 
to Virginia. 

When it shall please God to send you on the coast of Vir- 
ginia, you shall do your best endeavor to find out a safe 
port in the entrance of some navigable river, making choice 
of such a one as runneth farthest into the land and if you 
happen to discover divers portable rivers, and amongst 
them any one that hath two main branches, if the.drfference 
be not great, make choice of that which bendeth most toward 
the North-west for that way you shall soonest find the other 
sea. . . . 

And to the end that you be not surprized as the French 
were in Florida by Melindus, and the Spaniard in the same 
place by the P>ench, you shall do well to make this double 
provision. First, erect a little stoure at the mouth of the 
river that may lodge some ten men; with whom you shall 
leave a light boat, that when any fleet shall be in sight, they 
may come with speed to give you warning. Secondly, you 
must in no case sufl'er any of the native people of the coun- 
try to inhabit between you and the sea coast; for you cannot 
carry yourselves so towards them, but they will grow dis- 
contented with your habitation, and be ready to guide and 
assist any nation that shall come to invade you; and if you 
neglect this you neglect your safety. . . . 

30 



Virginia and Maryland 



37 



You must observe if you can, whether the river on whicli 
you plant doth spring out of mountains or out of lakes. If 
it be out of any lake, the passage to the other sea will be more 
easy, and it is like enough that out of the same lake you shall 
find some spring which runs the contrary way towards the 
East India Sea: for the great and famous rivers of Volga, 
Tanais and Dwina have three heads near joynid; and yet 
one falleth into the Caspian Sea, the other into the Euxine 
Sea, and the third into the Paelonian Sea. 

In all your passages you must have great care not to offend 
the naturals, if you can eschew it; and imploy some few of 
your company to trade with them for corn and all other 
lasting victuals if they have any: and this you must do 
before that they perceive you mean to plant among them: 
for not being sure how your own seed corn will prosper the 
first year, to avoid the danger of famine, use and endeavor 
to store yourselves of the country corn. . . . 

You must take especial care that you choose a seat for 
habitation that shall not be over burthened with woods near 
your town: for all the men you have, shall not be able to 
cleanse twenty acres a year; besides that it may serve for 
a covert for your enemies round about. 

Neither must you plant in a low or moist place, because 
it will prove unhealthfull. You shall judge of the good 
air by the people; ... if the naturals be strong and clean 
made, it is a true sign of a wholesome soil. 

You must take care that your marriners that go for wages 
do not marr your trade: for those that mind not to inhal)ite, 
for a little gain will debase the estimation of exchange and 
hinder the trade for ever after: and therefore you shall not 
admit or suffer any person whatsoever, other than such as 
shall be appointed by the President and Counsel there, to 
buy any marchandises or other things whatsoever. 

And seeing order is at the same price with confusion, it 
shall be adviseably done to set your houses even and by a 
line, that your streets may have a good breadth and be 
carried square about your market place, and every street's 



Search for 
the East 
Indies. 



Treatment 
of natives. 



Location 
of settle- 
ment. 



Sailors not 
to engage 
in trade. 



Plan of 
town. 



38 



Readings in American History 



end opening into it; that from thence with a few field pieces, 
you may command every street throughout; which market 
place you may also fortify if you think it needfull. . . . 

Lastly and chiefly the way to prosper and achieve good 
success is to make yourselves all of one mind for the good 
of your country and your own, and to serve and fear God 
the Giver of all Goodness, for every plantation which our 
Heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted out. 

9. Condition of the Jamestown Colony, 1607 

On May 14, 1607, the three vessels commanded by Captain 
Christopher Newport anchored at a point on James River, some 
thirty-two miles from its mouth. The colonists landed and began 
the settlement of Jamestown. June 22 Captain Newport sailed for 
England, leaving one hundred and four settlers. So poorly equipped 
were the settlers for the hardships encountered that by September 
10 only forty-six of their number were still alive. — (Gathered out 
of a Discourse of the Plantation of the Southern Colonic in Vir- 
ginia by the English, 1606. Written by that Honorable Gentleman 
Master George Percy. Purchas His Pilgrimes, IV, pp. 1685-90. 
London, 1625.) 



Protec- 
tion of the 
colony. 



Condi- 
tions after 
the de- 
parture of 
Newport. 



The fifteenth of June, 1607, we had built and finished our 
Fort, which was triangle wise; having three Bulwarkes, one 
at every corner, like a halfe Moone, and four or five pieces 
of artillery mounted in them; this we had made ourselves suf- 
ficiently strong for these savages. We had also sown most of 
our corn on two mountains. It had sprung a mans height from 
the ground. This country is a fruitful soil, bearing many 
goodly and fruitful trees, as Mulberries, Cherries, Walnuts, 
Cedars, Cypresse, Sassafras, and vines in great abundance. 

Monday, the two and twentieth of June, 1607, in the morn- 
ing Captain Newport in the Admirall departed from James 
port for England. 

Captain Newport being gone for England, leaving us, one 
hundred and four persons, verie bare and scantie of victuals: 
furthermore in warres and in danger of the Savages. We 
hoped after a supply, which Captain Newport promised 



Virginia and Maryland 39 

within twentie weeks. But if the beginners of this action 
doe carefully further us, the country being so fruitful, it 
would be as great a profit to the realm of England as the Indies 
to the King of Spain. If this river which we have found had 
been discovered in time of war with Spain, it would have 
been a commoditie to our realm, and a great annoyance to 
our enemies. . . . 

Our men were destroyed with cruell diseases, as swellings, 
fluxes, burning fevers and by warres: and some departed 
suddenly, but for the most part they died of meere famine. 

There were never Englishmen left in a foreign country in 
such misery as we were in this new discovered Virginia. 
We watched every three nights, lying on the bare cold ground, 
what weather soever came; and warded all the next day; 
which brought our men to be most feeble wTctches. Our 
food was but a small can of barley, sodden in water, to five 
men a day. Our drink, cold water taken out of the river; 
which was, at a flood very salt; at low tide full of slime and 
filth, which was the destruction of many of our men. Thus 
we lived for the space of five months [August, 1607- January, 
1608] in this miserable distress, not having five able men to 
man our bulwarkes upon any occasion. If it had not pleased 
God to have put a terror in the savages hearts, we had all 
perished by those wild and cruel Pagans, being in that 
weake estate as we were; our men night and day groaning 
in every corner of the fort most pitiful to hear. If there 
were any conscience in men, it would make their hearts 
bleed to hear the pitiful murmurings and outcries of our 
sick men without relief, ever}' night and day for the space of 
six weeks; some departing out of this world, many times 
three or four in a night; in the morning their bodies trailed 
out of their cabins like dogs to be buried. In this sort did 
I see the mortality of divers of our people. 

It pleased God after a while, to send those people which 
were our mortal enemies, to relieve us with victuals, as 
bread, corne, fish, and flesh in great plenty, which was the 
setting up of our feeble men, otherwise we had all perished. 



40 



Readings in American History 



10. Value of Virginia as a Colony 

(Virginia More Especially the South part thereof, Richly and truly 
valued: The Discovery of Silkworms, Also The Dressing of Vines, 
for the rich Trade of making Wines in Virginia. Together with the 
making of the Saw-mill, very usefull in Virginia, by E. W., Gent., 
London, 1G50. Peter Force, Collection of Historical Tracts, HI, 
No. XI, i)p. 1-G2.) 



Place for 
robbers. 



Suitable 
place for 
orphans. 



Malcon- 
tents. 



1. It will disburthen this nation of many indigent persons, 
who having formerly perhaps enjoyed a fulnesse of abused 
or forfeyted plenty, at the present reduced to an inequality 
of such subsistence, are commonly prompted to their owne 
and other mens mine by making the high wayes (which 
should be as public and inviolable a sanctuaiy as the most 
sacred places^ an ambuscado to innocent Travellers, by which 
interruption of passages, there is commonly occasioned a 
decay and disincouragement of commerce, and dayly ex- 
amples informs us, that Prisons at present are almost as 
full of criminall as indebted persons. 

2. It will take off all Parish charges, in providing for 
destitute Minors and Orphans, whereof there is at present a 
burthensome multitude, whereby the Parishes so freed, may 
with greater alacrity and ability, part with contributory 
moneys to maintaine, recruite, and ineourage your Armies 
and Navies. 

3. Those Orphans so provided for may by Gods blessings 
upon their labours become happy and wealthy instruments, 
advantageous to the place of their nativity in particular, 
and their whole nation in generall. Whereas the condition of 
their birth and the usual way of exposing them, makes them 
capable of no more gainfull calling than that of day-labourers, 
or which is more fre(|uent, hereditar,\' beggars. 

4. The republic in its present constitution abounding with 
so dangerous a number of male contents, who commonly like 
Shrubs under high and spreading Cedars, imagine the 
spacious height of others to be the cause of their owne low- 



Virginia and Maryland 



41 



ness, may by this means be honourably secured, and such 
men removing their discontents with their persons, will have 
a brave and ample theater to make their merits and abilities 
emergent, and a large field to sow and reap the fruit of all 
their honest industrious and public intentions. 

5. It will to admiration increase the number of Ships and 
Seamen, (the brazen wall of this nation) all materiall to ad- 
vance Navigation, being abundantly to be furnished out of 
those countries and the more Passengers by conference and 
disputation with the knowing Mariner, will take great delight, 
satisfaction, and ambition, to attaine to the Theory of that 
knowledge, while the less capable being accustomed and as- 
signed to an usuall part in the toyle thereof, and instructed 
by the ordinary Seaman, will be brought to a good readinesse 
therein and speedy perfection. 

6. All materialls for shipping, as Timber, Cordage, Sailes, 
Iron, Brasse, Ordnance, of both metals, and whatever else 
we are necesitated to supply our wants with out of the East- 
erne Countries, who make it not unusuall to take advantages 
of their neighbours necessity, and often times upon a pre- 
tence of difference or unintelligence betwixt us, embrace an 
occasion to over-rate or over-custome their commodities, or (a 
real quarrell widening) sell it to other nations from whence we 
are forced to supply our selves at a second or third market. 

7. It will give us the liberty of storing a great part of 
Europe with a large plenty of incomparable better fish, then 
the Hollander hath found meanes to furnish it withall, and 
will make us in no long tract of time, if industriously prose- 
cuted, equall, if not transcend him in that his most bene- 
ficiall Staple. 

8. It will be to this Common wealth a standing and plenti- 
fuU magazine of Wheat, Rice, Flax, Cotton, Salt, Pot-ashes, 
Sope-ashes, Segars, Wines, Silke, Olives, and whatever 
single is the staple of other Nations Shall be found in this 
joyntly collected. 

9. It will furnish us with rich Furrs, Hides, Tallow, I5iefe, 
Pork, etc., the growth and increase of Cattell in this nation, 



Increase 
navy. 



Material 
furnished 
for sliip- 
building. 



Valuable 
for supply- 
ing fish. 



Produce 
which may 
be raised. 



To supply 
furs. Iieef, 
and porli. 



42 



Readings in American History 



Homes 
for dis- 
charged 
soldiers. 



Surplus 
popula- 
tion. 



Wealth of 
Virginia. 



receivmg a grand interuption and stop, by killing commonly 
very hopefuU yong breed to furnish our markets, or store 
our shipping, meerly occasioned by wast of ground to feed 
them, whereas those Provinces afford such large proportion 
of rich ground, that neither the increase of this or the suc- 
ceeding age can in any reasonable probability overfeed the 
moiety. 

10. By it many of your Honours Reformadoes and dis- 
banded souldiers being dismist with the payment of such part 
of their arrears as your own judgment (guided by the rule 
of your immense disbursements) shall thinke a convenient 
recompense, by transporting themselves thither may change 
their desperate fortunes into a happy certainty of condition, 
and a contented lively hood, which will be a means not only 
to disburden this Republick (as before) but to remove all 
those clamors usualy disturbing your public consultations, 
and to win upon them by your bounty to invert all those 
fearfull imprecations, with which they would (as much as 
in them lies) unblesse your proceedings, into a joyfull and 
fervent concurrence of prayers to the Almighty to shoure 
downe blessings upon your heads, who, next under him, are 
the glorious and visible instruments of their increasing 
happinesse. 

11. It will be a generous and moving incouragement to all 
industrious and publick spirits, to imploy those parts with 
which God and nature hath blessed them in the discovery of 
such happy inventions as may drive on hopefuU designs with 
a lesser number of hands then is usually assigned to them, 
which issues of the brain are legitimate and geniall to begin- 
ning Plantations, where the greatest want is that of people: 
but for our own or other popular Kingdomes where we are 
commonly overprest with a greater multitude of labourers 
than imployers, by much lesse acceptable, since our indigent 
people look upon such Engins meerly as monoppolies to 
engrosse their livelihood. ... 

That all these, and many inestimable benefits may have 
their rise, increase, and perfection from the South parts of 



Virginia and Maryland 



43 



Virginia, a country unquestionably our own, devolved to us 
by a just title, and discovered by John Cabot at the English 
expences, who found out and took seisure, together with the 
voluntary submission of the natives to the English obedience 
of all that Continent from Cape Florida northward, the 
excellent temper of the air, the large proportion of ground, 
the incredible richnesse of soile, the admirable abundance of 
minerals, vegetables, medicinall drugs, timber, ' scituation, 
no less proper for all European commodities, than all those 
staples which entitle China, Persia, and other the more 
opulent Provinces of the East to their wealth, reputation, 
and greatnes (besides the most Christian of all improvements, 
the converting many thousands of the natives) is agreed upon 
by all who have ever viewed the Country: To which the 
judgement of the most incomparable Ralegh may be a con- 
vincing assertion, whose preferring of that Country before 
either the North of Virginia or New-England, though it may 
sufficiently command my submission and acquiescence; yet 
for more particular satisfaction be pleased to accept these 
reasons for such praelation. 

1. The apparent danger all the Colonies may be in if this 
be not possessed by the English, to prevent the Spaniard, 
who already hath seated himself on the North of Florida, advance, 
and on the back of Virginia in 34, where he is already pos- 
sessed of rich silver mines. . . . 

5. And lastly, the planting of this CoUony will open a 
most compendious passage to the discovery of those more 
opulent Kingdomes of China, Cochin China, Cathaga, Japan, 
the Phillipines, Summatra, and all those beauteous and 
opulent Provinces of the East Indies which beyond dispute 
lye open to those seas which wash the South- West parts of 
Virginia, through whose bosome all those most precious 
commodities which enable the Chinesie, Cathayan, Persian, 
and Indostant Empires, may more conveniently, speedily, 
with more security and lesse expences, be transported thence 
from Spawhann or other remoter Pro\inces to Gombroon, 
by a long dangerous and expensive caravane, and from 



Foil 

against 

Spanish 



Will lead 
to the dis- 
covery of 
China. 



44 Readings in American History 

thence to Surat, where when arrived the doubling of the 
Line, calentures Scurvies, with a long train of diseases and 
Famine attend its transportation into our owne Countrey. 

6. Whereas by expandeing our selves to both sides and 
seas of Mrginia, our commerce to those noble Nations lies 
open in short and pleasant voyages to the encouragement, 
enriching and delight of the Seamen and personal adven- 
turers, who will share in the delicacies and profits of those 
Kingdoms without participating in the miseries attending 
our present voyages thither. . . . 



CHAPTER V 
^ NEW ENGLAND 



11. John Smith's Description of New England, 1614 



(Captaine John Smith's Works, Arber edition, pp. 187-229. 
don, 1616.) 



Lon- 



In the moneth of Aprill, 1614, with two Ships from London, purpose of 

of a few merchant.s, I chanced to arive in Neio-Enqland, a t^eexpe- 

.' . . dition. 

parte of Amcryca, at the He of Monahiggan, in 433/2 ^^ 

Northerly latitude; our plot was there to take whales and 
make tryalls of a Myne of Gold and Copper. If those failed, 
Fish and Furres was then our refuge, to make our selues 
sauers howsoeuer; we found this Whalefishing a costly con- 
clusion: we saw many, and spent much time in chasing them; 
but we could not kill any; they being a kinde of Jubartes, 
and not the Whale that yeeldes Finnes and Oyle as wee ex- 
pected. For our golde, it was rather the Masters device to 
get a voyage that projected it, than any knowledge hee had 
at all of any such matter. Fish and Furres was now our 
guard: and by our late arriual, and long lingering about the 
Whale[s], the prime of both those seasons were past ere wee 
perceiued it; we thinking that their seasons, serued at all 
times; but wee found it otherwise; for by the midst of 
June, the fishing failed. Yet in July and August some were 
taken, but not sufficient to defray so great a charge as our 
stay required. Of dry fish we made about 40,000., of Cor- 
fish al^out 7000. 

Whilest the sailors fished, my selfe with eight or nine others Expiora- 
of them [that] might best bee spared; ranging the coast in a c°"f"^ ^^^ 
small boat, wee got for trifles neer 1100 Bcuer skinnes, 100 

45 



46 



Readings in American History 



Success of 
the expe- 
dition. 



Situation 
of New 
England. 



Martins [skins], and near as many Otters; and the mo§t of 
them within the distance of twenty leagues. 

We ranged the Coast both East and West much further; 
but Eastwards our coninuxhtics were not esteemed, they 
were so neare the Erench who affords them better: and right 
against us in the main [the mainUmdJ was a ship of Sir Erances 
Popphames, that had there such acquaintance, having many 
yeares used onely that porte, that the most parte there, was 
had by him. And 40 leagues westwards were two Erench 
Ships, that had made there a great voyage by trade; during 
the time we tryed those conclusions, not knowing the Coast, 
nor Saluages habitation. 

With these Eurres, the Traine [train oil], and cor-fish, I 
returned for England in the Bark: where within six monthes 
after our departure from the Downcs, we safe arriued back. 
The best of this fish was solde for five pound the hundredth, 
the rest by ill usage betwixt three pound and fifty shillings. . . . 

New England is that part of America in the Ocean Sea 
opposite to Nova Albyon in the South Sea; discovered by 
the most memorable Sir Erancis Drake in his voyage about 
the worlde. In regarde whereto this is stiled New England, 
beeing in the same latitude. New Erance, off it, is North- 
ward; Southwardes is Virginia, and all the adioyning Con- 
tinent with New Granado, New Spain, New Andalosia and 
the West Indies. Now because I have been so oft asked 
such strange questions, of the goodnesse and greatnesse of 
these spatious Tracts of land, how they can bee thus long 
unknown, or not possessed by the Spaniard, and many such 
like demands; I intreat your pardens if I chance to be too 
plaine or tedious in relating my knowledge for plaine mens 
satisfaction. Elorida is next adioyning to the Indies, which 
unprosperously was attempted to bee planted by the Erench. 
A country far bigger than England, Scotland, Erance and 
Ireland, yet little known to any Christian, but by the wonder- 
ful endevors of Eerdinando de Soto a valiant Spaniard: 
whose writings in this age is the best guide knowne to search 
these parts. . . . 



New England 47 

That part wee call New England is betwixt the degrees of 
41 and 45; but that parte this discourse speaketh of, stretcheth 
but from Pennobscot to Cape Cod, some 75 leagues by a 
right line distant from each other: within which bounds I 
have scene at least 40 severall habitations upon the Sea 
Coast and sounded about 25 excellent good harbours: In 
many whereof there is anchorage for 500 sayle of ships of 
any burthen : in some of them for 5000 : And more than 200 
lies over growne with good timber, of divers sorts of wood, 
which doe make so many harbours as requireth a longer 
time than I had, to be well discovered. . . . 

Betwixt Sagadahock and Sowocatuck there is but two or 
three sandy Bayes, but betwixt that and Cape Cod very 
many; especialy the Coast of the Massachusetts is so in- 
differently mixed with high clayie or sandy cliffes in one 
place, and then tracts of large long ledges of divers sorts; 
and quarries of stones in other places so strangely divided 
with trinctured veines of divers colors; as Free stone for 
building. Slate for tiling, smooth stone to make Furnaces 
and Forges for glasse or iron, and iron ore sufficient, conveni- 
ently to melt in them; but the most part so resembleth the 
Coast of Devonshire, I thinke most of the cliffs would make 
such limestone: If they be not of these qualities they are so 
like, they may deceive a better judgement than mine; all 
which are soe neere adjoyning to these other advantages I 
observed in these parts, that if the Ore prove as good iron 
and Steele in these parts, as I know it is within the bounds 
of the Countrey, I dare engage my head (having but men 
skillful to worke the simples, there growing) to have all things 
belonging to the building the rigging of shippes of any pro- 
portion, and good merchandize for the fraught, within a 
square of 10 or 14 leagues; and were it for a good rewarde, I 
would not feare to produce it in a lesse limitation. 

And surely by reason of these sandy cliffes and cliffes of Riches of 
rocks, both which we saw so planted with Gardens and .^^^ ^°^' 
Corne fields, and so well inhabited with a goodly, strong and 
well proportioned people, besides the greatenesse of the 



48 UcddiiKjs ill American llisiorij 

Timber growing on them, the greatnesse of tlie fish and 
moderate temper of the ayre (for of twenty-five not any was 
sicke, but two that were many years diseased before they 
went notwithstanding our bad lodging and accidental! diet) 
who can but approve this a most excellent place both for 
health and fertility? And of all the foure parts of the world 
that I have yett scene not inhabited, could I but have the 
meanes to transport a ("olonie, I would rather live here than 
anywhere: and if it did not maintaine it selfe, were wee but 
once indifferently well fitted, let us starve. 

Value as The maine Staple, from hence to bee extracted for the 

flshiiiK- present to produce the rest, is fish; which however it may 
seeme a meane and base commoditic; yet who will but truely 
take the pains and consider the sequell, I thinkc will allow it 
well worth the labour. It is strange to see what great ad- 
ventures the hopes of setting forth men of war [privateers] 
to rob the industrious innocent, would produce; or such 
massie promises in grosse; though more are choked than 
well fedde with such hastie hopes. But who doth not know 
that the poor Hollanders, chiefly by fishing, at a great charge 
and labour in all weathers in the open Sea, are made a people 
so hardy and industrious? . . . And never could the Span- 
iard with all his Mynes of golde and silver, pay his debts, 
his friends and his army, halfe so truely, as the Hollanders 
stil have done by this contemptible trade of fish. . . . 

Cnnver- Who Can desire more content that hath small meanes; 

sum of the jjj. j-jj^ji- qj^]^. i^j^, l^^^(^Y\l to advance his fortune, than to treat, 

savages. 

and plant that ground hee hath purchased by the hazard of 
his life? If he have but the taste of virtue and magnanimity, 
what to such a mind can be more pleasant, than planting 
and l)uilding a foundation for his Posteritie, gotte from the 
rude earth, by God's blessing and his own industrie, without 
prejudice to any? If he haxc any graine of faith or zeal in 
religion, what can hee doe less hurtfull to any; or more 
agreeable to' God, than to seeke to convert these poore 
Salvages to know C'hrist, and humanitie, whose labours with 
discretion will triple requite thy charge and paines? What 



Neiv England 49 

so truely sutes with honour and honestie, as the discovering 
things unknowne? erecting Townes, peopHng Countries, in- 
forming the ignorant, reforming things unjust, teaching vir- 
tue; and to gain to our Native mother Countrie a kingdom 
to attend her? finde imployment for those that are idle, be- 
cause they know not what to doe: so farre from wronging 
any as, to cause Posteritie to remember thee; and remember- 
ing thee, ever honour that remembrance with praise? 

12. Incidents in the History of Plymouth Plantation. 

William Bradford was Governor of Plymouth between the years 
1621 and 1657, with the exception of the three years when Edward 
Winslow was chosen, 1633, 1636, and 1644, and the two years, 1634 
and 1638, when Thomas Pence was chosen. Governor Bradford's 
History of Plymouth, from which the extracts are taken, is a work 
of greatest value. — (William Bradford, History of Plymouth Planta- 
tion, 1629-1648, pp. 90-94; 110 passim. Boston, 1856.) 

Tn these hard and difficult beginnings they found some Condi- 
discontents and murmurings arise amongst some, and muti- 
nous speeches and carriags in others, but they were sopn 
quelled and overcome by the wisdom, patience, and just 
and equal carriage of things by the Governor and better 
part, which clave together faithfully in the main. But that 
which was most sad and lamentable was, that in two or three 
months time half of their company died, especially in January 
and February, being the depth of winter and wanting hou.ses 
and other comforts; being infected with the scur\y and other 
diseases, which • this long voyage and their inaccomodate 
condition had brought upon them ; so as there died sometimes 
two or three of a day, in the aforesaid time; that of one hun- 
dred and odd persons scarce fifty remained. And of these, 
in the time of most distress, there was but six or seven sound 
persons, who, to their great commendation be it spoken, 
spared no pains, night or day, but with abupdance of toil 
and hazard of their own health, fetched them wood, made 
them fires, dressed them meat, made their beds, clothed and 



tions in 
1620. 



50 Readings in American History 

unclothed them; and all this willingly and cheerfully, with- 
out any grudging in the least, showing herein their true love 
unto their friends and brethren. A rare example and worthy 
to be remembered. Two of these seven were Mr. William 
Brewster, their reverend elder, and Miles Standish their cap- 
tain and military commander, unto whom myself and many 
others were much beholden in our low and sick condition. 
And yet the Lord so up held these persons, as in this general 
calamity' they were not at all infected either with sickness or 
lameness. And what I have said of these I may say of 
many others who died in this general visitation and others 
yet living, that whilst they had health, yea, or any strength 
continuing they were not wanting to any that had need of 
them. And I doubt not but their recompense is with the 
Lord. 
Relations All this while the Indians came skulking about them, and 
Indians. would sometimes show themselves aloof of [at a distance], 
but when any one approached near them they would run 
away. And once they stole away their tools, where they had 
been at work and were gone to dinner. But about the 16th 
of March, a certain Indian came boldly among them, and 
spoke to them in broken English, which they could well 
understand but marvelled at it. At length they understood 
by discourse with him, that he was not of these parts, but 
belonged to the eastern parts where some English ships came 
to fish, with whom he was acquainted and could name sundry 
of them by their names, among whom he had gott his lan- 
guage. He became profitable to them in acquainting them 
with many things concerning the state of the country in the 
east parts where he lived, which was afterwards profitable 
unto them; as also of the people here, of their names, num- 
ber, and strength; of their situation and distance from this 
place, and who was chief among them. His name was 
Samoset. He told them also of another Indian whose name 
was Squanto, a native of this place, who had been in England 
and could speak better English than himself. Being, after 
some time of entertainment and gifts, dismissed, a while 



New England 



51 



after he came again and five men with him, and they brought 

again all the tools that were stolen away before, and made 

way for the coming of their great Sachem called Massasoit, Massasoit. 

who, about four or five days after, came with the chief of his 

friends and other attendants, with the aforesaid Squanto. 

With whom, after friendly entertainment and some gifts 

given him, they made a peace which hath now continued 

these twenty-four years. 

1621, After the departure of this ship [the Fortune], which Put on 
stayed not above fourteen days, the Governor and his assist- ance^i62i. 
ant having disposed these late comers into several families, 
as they best could, took an exact account of all their provisions 
in store, and proportioned the same to the number of persons, 
and found that it would not hold out above six months at 
half allowance and hardly that. And they could not well 
give less this winter time till fish came in again. So they were 
presently put to half allowance, one as well as another, 
which began to be hard, but they bore it patiently under 
hope of supply. 

Soon after this ships departure (November 1621) the 
great people of the Narragansetts, in a braving manner, sent 
a messenger unto them with a bundle of arrows tied about natives, 
with a great snake-skin, which their interpreters told them was 
a threatening and a challenge. Upon which the Governor, 
with the advice of others, sent them a round answer, that if 
they had rather have war than peace, they might begin when 
they would ; they had done them no wrong, neither did they 
fear them, nor should they find them unprovided. And by 
another messenger sent the snake-skin back with bullets in 
it; but they would not receive it but sent it back again. . . . 

But this made them the more carefully to look to them- 
selves, so they agreed to inclose their dwellings with a good 
strong pale, and make flankers in convenient places, with gates 
to shut, which were every night locked and a watch kept, and 
when need required there was also warding in the daytime. 
And the company was, by the Captain's and Governor's 
advice, divided into four squadrons, and every one had their 



Exchange 
of gifts 
witli tlie 



Means of 
protec- 
tion. 



52 Readings in American History 

quarter appointed them, unto which they were to repair 
upon any sudden alarm. And if there should be any cry of 
fire, a company were appointed for a guard with muskets, 
while others quenched the same, to prevent Indian treachery. 
This was accomplished very cheerfully, and the town impaled 
round by the beginning of March, in which e\ery family had 
a pretty garden plot secured. And herewith I shall end this 
year. Only I shall remember one passage more rather of 
mirth than of weight. On the day called Christmas day, the 
Governor called them out to work, as was used, but the most 
of this new company excused themsehes and said it went 
against their consciences to work on that day. So the 
Governor told them that if they made it a matter of conscience, 
he would spare them until they were better informed. So 
he led away the rest and left them ; but when they came home 
at noon from their work, he found them in the street at play 
openly; some pitching the bar and some at stool-ball and 
such like sports. So he went to them and took away their 
implements, and told them that was against his conscience, 
that they should play and others work. If they made the 
keeping of it a matter of devotion, let them keep thetr houses, 
but there should be no gaming or revelling in the streets. 
Since which time nothing hath been attempted that way, at 
least openly. . , . 

13. New England as a Place for Settlement, 1629 

Reverend Francis Higginson, a minister of Salem, wrote an ac- 
count of the conditions incident to making homes in Massachusetts. 
— (New England's Plantation or a Short and True Description of 
the Commodities and Discommodities of That Country, London, 
1630; Peter Force, Historical Tracts, I, No. XII, 1-14. Washing- 
ton, 1836.) 

Though, as the idle proverb is, "Travellers may lie by 
authority," and so may take too much sinful liberty that way, 
yet I may say of myself, as once Nehemiah did in another 
case, "Shall such a man as I lie?" No, verilv. It becometh 



New England 



53 



not a preacher of truth to be a writer of falsehood in any 
degree; and therefore I have been careful to report nothing 
of New England but what I have partly seen with my own 
eyes, and partly heard and inquired from the mouths of very 
honest and religious persons, who be living in the country a 
good space of time have had experience and knowledge of 
the state thereof, and whose testimonies I do believe as 
myself. 

The fertility of the soil is to be admired at, as appeareth Fertility 
in the abundance of grass that groweth everywhere, both very °*".^^e 
thick, very long and very high in divers places. But it 
groweth very wildly, with a great stalk, and a broad and 
ranker blade, because it never had been eaten with cattle, 
nor mowed with a scythe, and seldom trampled on by foot. 
It is scarcely to be belie\'ed how our kine and goats, horses 
and hogs do thri\e and prosper here, and like well of this 
country. 

In our plantation we have already a quart of milk for a Growth 
penny. But the abundant increase of corn proves this coun- °^ '^°™* 
try to be a wonderment. Thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, are 
ordinary here. Yea, Joseph's increase in Egypt is outstripped 
here with us. Our planters hope to have more than a hun- 
dred fold this year. And all this while I am within compass; 
what will you say of two-hundred fold and upwards? It is 
almost incredible what great gain some of our English 
planters have had by our Indian corn, credible persons have 
assured me, and the party himself avouched the truth of it 
to me, that of the setting of thirteen gallons of corn he hath 
had increase of it fifty-two hogsheads, every hogshead hold- 
ing seven bushels of London measure, and every bushel was 
by him sold and trusted to the Indians for so much beaver 
as was worth eighteen shillings; and so of the thirteen gallons 
of corn, which was worth six shillings eight pence, he made 
about £327 of it the year following, as by reckoning will 
appear; where you may see how God blesseth husbandry in 
this land. There is not such great and plentiful ears of corn 
I suppose anywhere else to be found but in this country-, 



54 



Readings in American History 



Abun- 
dance of 
flsh. 



Healthful- 
ness of the 
location. 



being also of a variety of colours as red, blue, and yellow; 
and of one corn there springeth four or five hundred. I 
have sent you many ears of diverse colors that you might 
see the truth of it. 

The abundance of sea fish are almost beyond believing; 
and sure I should scarce have believed it except I had seen it 
with mine own eyes. I saw great store of whales, and gram- 
puses, and such abundance of mackerels that it would as- 
tonish one to behold; likewise codfish, abundance on the 
coast, and in their season are plentifully taken. There is a 
fish called a bass, a most sweet and wholesome fish as ever 
I did eat; it is altogether as good as our fresh salmon; and 
the season of their coming was begun when we came first 
to New England in June, and so continued about three 
months space. Of this fish, our fishers have taken many 
hundreds together, which I have seen lying on the shore, to 
my admiration. Yea, their nets ordinarily take more than 
they are able to haul to land, and for want of boats and men 
they are constrained to let many go after they have taken 
them; and yet sometimes they fill two boats at a time with 
them. And besicles bass, we take plenty of skate and thorn- 
back, and abundance of lobsters, and the least boy in the 
Plantation may both catch and eat what he will of them. 
For my own part, I was soon cloyed with them, they were so 
great, and fat, and lucious. 

The temper of the air in New England is one special thing 
that commends this place. Experience doth manifest that 
there is hardly a more healthful place to be found in the 
world that agreeth better with our English bodies. Many 
that have been weak and sickly in Old England, by coming 
here have been thoroughly healed, and grown healthful and 
strong. For here is an extraordinary clear and dry air, that 
is of a most healing nature to all such as are of a cold, melan- 
choly, phlegmatic, rheumatic temper of body. None can 
more truly speak hereof by their own experience than myself. 
My friends that knew me can well tell how very sickly I 
have been, being much troubled with a tormenting pain 



New England 55 

through an extraordinary weakness of my stomach, and 
abundance of melancholic humors. But since I came hither 
on this voyage, I thank God I have had perfect health, and 
freed from pain and vomiting, having a stomach to digest the 
hardest and coarsest fare, who before could not eat finest 
meat; and whereas my stomach could only digest and did 
require such drink as was both strong and stale, now I can 
and do often times drink New England water very well. 
And I that have not gone without a cap for many years to- 
gether, neither durst leave off the same, have now cast away 
my cap, and do wear none at all in the day time; and whereas 
before time I clothed myself with double clothes and thick 
waistcoats to keep me warm, even in the summer time, I do 
now go as thin clad as any, only wearing a light stuff cassock 
upon my shirt, and stuff breeches of one thickness without 
linings. Besides, I have one of my children, that was 
formerly most lamentably handled with sin breaking out of 
both his hands and feet of the king's evil; but since he came 
here he is very well as ever he was, and there is hope of per- 
fect recovery shortly, even by the very wholesomeness of the 
air, altering, digesting, and drying up the cold and crude 
humors of the body; and therefore I think it is a wise course 
for all cold complexions to come to take physic in New Eng- 
land; for a sup of New England's air is better than a whole 
draught of Old England's ale. 

Though it be here somewhat cold in the winter, yet here Condi 
we have plenty of fire to warm us, and that a great deal 
cheaper than they sell billets and fagots in London; nay, 
all Europe is not able to aft'ord to make so great fires as New 
England. A poor servant here, that is to possess but fifty 
acres of land, may afford to give more wood for timber and 
fire as good as the world yields, than many noble men in 
England can afford to do. Here is good living for those that 
love good fires. And although New England have no 
tallow to make candles of, yet by the abundance of fish 
thereof it can afford oil for lamps. Yea, our pine trees, that 
are the most plentiful of all wood, doth allow us plenty of 



tions in 
winter. 



56 



Readings in American History 



Mos- 
quitoes. 



Severe 
cold. 



Snakes. 



Homes for 
surplus 
population 
of Eng- 
land. 



candles which are very useful in a house; and they are such 
candles as the Indians commonly use, having no other; and 
they are nothing else but the wood of the pine tree cloven in 
two little slices something thin, which are so full of the mois- 
ture of turpentine and pitch that they burn as clear as a torch. 

Now I will tell you of some discommodities, that are here 
to be found. 

First, in the summer season; for these three months, June, 
July, and August, we are much troubled with little flies 
called mosquitoes, being the same they are troubled with 
in Lincolnshire and the fens; and they are nothing but gnats 
which, except they be smoked out of their houses, are 
troublesome in the night season. 

Secondly, in the winter season for two months space, the 
earth is commonly covered with snow, which is accompanied 
with sharp biting frosts, something more sharp than is in 
Old England, and therefore are forced to make great fires. 

Thirdly, this country being very full of woods and wilder- 
nesses, doth also much abound with snakes and serpents, of 
strange colors and huge greatness. Yea, there are some ser- 
pents, called rattle snakes, that have rattles in their tails, 
that will not fly from a man as others will, but will fly upon 
him and sting him so mortally that he will die within a quarter 
of an hour after, except the party stinged ha^•e about him 
some of the root of an herb called snake-weed to bite on, and 
then he shall receive no harm. But yet it seldom falls out 
that any hurt is done b}' these. About three years since an 
Indian was stung to death by one of them ; but we have heard 
of none since that time. 

Fourthly and lastly, here wants as yet the good company 
of honest Christians, to bring with them horses, kine, and 
.'^heep, to make use of this fruitful land. Great pity it is to 
see so much good ground for corn and for grass as is any under 
the heavens, to lie altogether unoccupied, when so many 
honest men and their families in old England, through the 
populousness thereof, do make very hard shift to live one bv 
the other. . . . 



New England 



57 



14. Progress of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, 1631 

Governor Dudley came from England with the charter for Massa- 
chusetts in 1630. For some nine or ten years he had lived in the 
family of the Countess of Lincoln. The letter was written nine 
months after his arrival in America. — (Governor Thomas Dud- 
ley's Letter to the Countess of Lincoln, March 28, 1631; Peter 
Force, Historical Tracts, II, No. IV, pp. 1-19. Washington, 1838.) 

For the satisfacon of your honour and some freinds, and 
for use of such as shall hereafter intend to increase our plan- 
tation in New England, I have in the throng of domestick, 
and not altogeather free from publique businesse, thought fitt 
to comit to memory our present condition, and what hath 
befallen us since our arrivall here; which I will doe shortly, 
after my usual manner, and must doe rudely, having yet no 
table, nor other room to write in, than by the fire side upon 
my knee, in this sharp winter; to which my family must 
have leave to resorte, though they break good manners, and 
make mee many times forget what I would say, and say what 
I would not. . . . 

Touching the plantacon which wee here have begun, it organiza 
fell out thus about the year 1G27 some friends beeing togeather 
in Lincolnesheire, fell into some discourse about New England 
and the plantinge of the gospell there; and after some de- 
liberation, we imparted our reasons by letters and messages 
to some in London and the west country where it was like- 
wise deliberately thought vppon, and at length with often 
negotiation soe ripened that in the year 1628, wee procured 
a patent from his Majesty for our planting between the 
Matachusetts Bay, and Charles river on the South; and the 
River of Merimack on the North and 3 miles on ether side 
of these Rivers and Bay, as allso for the government of those 
who did or should inhabit with in that compass, and the 
same year we sent Mr. John Endicott and some with him to 
beginne a plantacon and to strengthen such as he should Beginning 
find there which wee sent thether from Dorchester and some ment. 



tion of the 
company. 



58 Readings in American History 

places adjoyning; ffrom whom the same year receivinge 
hopefull news. The next year, 1629^ wee sent diverse shipps 
over with about 300 people, and some Cowes, Goates, and 
horses many of which arrived safely. Theis by their too 
large comendacons of the country, and the comodities thereof, 
invited us soe strongly to goe on that Mr. ^Yenthropp of 
Soffolke (who was well knowen in his own country and well ap- 
proved heere for his pyety, liberality, wisedome and gravity) 
comeinge in to us, wee came to such resolution that in April 
1G30, wee set saile from Old England with four good shipps. 
And in May following 8 more followed, 2 having gone before 
us in February and March, and 2 more following in June and 
August, besides another set out by a private merchant. 
Theis 17 Shipps arrived all safe in New England, for the in- 
crease of the plantacon here this year, 1630, but made a 
long, a troublesome, and a costly voyage, beeing all wind 
bound long in England, and hindered with contrary winds 
after they set saile and so scattered with mists and tempests 
that few of them arrived togeather. Our 4 shipps which 
sett out in Aprill arrived here in June and July, where we 
found the colony in a sadd and unexpected condicon, above 
80 of them beeing dead the winter before and many of those 
alive, weake and sicke; all the corne and bread amongst them 
all hardly sufficient to feed them a fortnight; insoe much that 
the remainder of 180 servants wee had the 2 years before 
sent over, comeing to us for victualls to sustaine them, wee 
found ourselves wholly unable to feed them by reason that 
the provisions shipped for them were taken out of the shippe 
they were put in, and they who were trusted to shippe them 
in another failed us, and left them behind; whereupon neces- 
sity enforced us to our extreme loss to give them all libertie; 
who had cost us about 16 or 20£ a person furnishing and 
Settlement sending over. But bearing theis things as wee might, wee 
towrf^'^**'^" beganne to consult of the place of our sitting doune: for Salem 
where we landed pleased us not. And to the purpose some 
were sent to the Bay to search upp the rivers for a convenient 
place; who uppon their returne reported to have found a 



New England 



59 



good place uppon Mistick; but some other of us seconding 
theis to approve or dislike of their judgement; we found a 
place liked us better 3 leagues up Charles river — And there 
uppon unshipped our goods into other vessels and with much 
cost and labour brought them in July to Charles Towne; but 
there receiveing advertisements by some of the late arived 
shipps from London and Amsterdam of some Ffrench prepara- 
tions against us (many of our people brought with us beeing 
sick of ffeavers and the scurvy and wee thereby unable to 
cary up our ordinance and baggage soe farre) wee were forced 
to change counsaile and for our present shelter to plant dis- 
persedly, some at Charles Towne which standeth on the North 
Side of the mouth of Charles River; some on the South Side 
thereof, which place we named Boston (as wee intended to settlement 
have done the place wee first resolved on) some of us uppon *'*^?°!tf° 
Mistick, which wee named Meadford; some of us westwards towns, 
on Charles river, four miles from Charles Towne, which place 
we named Watertoune; others of us 2 miles from Boston in 
a place wee named Rocksbury, others upon the river of Saugus 
betweene Salem and Charles Toune. And the western men 
4 miles South of Boston at a place wee named Dorchester. 
This dispersion troubled some of us; but helpe it wee could DiflBcui 
not, wanting abillity to remove to any place fit to build a 
Toune uppon, and the time too short to deliberate any 
longer least the winter should surprize us before wee had 
builded our houses. The best counsel wee could find out 
was to build a fort to retire to, in some convenient place if 
any enemy pressed there unto, after wee should have forti- 
fyed ourselves against the injuries of wett and cold. So 
ceasing to consult further for that time they who had health 
to labour fell to building, wherein many were interrupted 
with sicknes and many dyed weekley, yea almost dayley. 
Insomuch that the shipps beeing now uppon their returne, 
some for England, some for Ireland, there was as I take it 
not much less than an hundred (some think many more) 
partly out of dislike of our government which restrained and 
punished their excesses, and partly through feare of famine 



ties in 
founding 
the colony. 



60 Readings in American History 

(not seeing other meanes than by their labour to feed them- 
selves) which returned back againe. And glad were wee so 
to be ridd of them. Others also afterwards hearing of men 
of their own disposition, which were planted at Piscataway 
went from us to them, whereby though our numbers were 
lessened yet wee accounted ourselves nothing weakened by 
their removeall. . . . But now haveing some leasure to dis- 
cnurse of the motives for other mens comeinge to this place 
or their abstaineing from it, after my breife manner I say this. 
— That if any come hether to plant for worldl}' ends that 
canne live well at home hee comits an error of which hee will 
Advice to soon repent him. But if for spirittuall and that noe particu- 
tivTset- '^^ obstacle hinder his removeall, he may finde here what 
tiers. may well content him: vizt: materialls to build, fewell to 

burn, ground to plant, seas and rivers to ffish in, a pure ayer 
to breath in, good water to drink till wine or beare canne be 
made, which togeather with the cowes, hoggs, and goates 
brought hether all ready may suffice for food, for as for foule 
and venison, they are dainties here as well as in England. 
Ffor cloaths and beddinge they must bring them with them 
till time and industry produce them here. In a word, wee 
yett enjoy little to be envyed but endure much to bee pittyed 
in the sicknes and mortalitye of our people. And I do the 
more willingly use this open and plain dealeinge least other 
men should fall short of their expectacons when they come 
hether as wee to our great prejudice did, by meanes of letters 
sent us from hence into England, wherein honest men out of 
a desire to draw over others to them wrote somewhat hyper- 
bolically of many things here. If any godly men out of 
religious ends will come over to helpe us in the good work wee 
are about I think they cannot dispose of themselves nor of 
their estates more to God's glory and the furtherance of 
their own reckoninge, but they must not bee of the poorer 
sort yett for diverse yeares. Ffor we have found by experi- 
ence that they have hindered, not furthered the work. — And 
for profane and deboshed persons their oversight in comeinge 
hether is wondered at, where they shall find nothing to con- 



New England Gl 

tent them. If there bee any endued with grace and furnished 
with meanes to feed themselves and theirs for 18 months, 
and to build and plant lett them come into our Macedonia 
and helpe us, and not spend themselves and their estates in 
a less profit table employment; for others I conceive they are 
not fitted for this busines. . . . 



CHAPTER VI 



FURTHER ENGLISH COLONIZATION 



Treat- 
ment of 
Penn in 
America. 



15. Resources of Pennsylvania 

The following account of conditions in Pennsylvania was pre- 
pared by William Penn, as a letter to his friends in London, 1683. 
— (American Museum, or Universal Magazine. Philadelphia, 
January, 1787-December, 1792). 

Philadelphia, the 16th of the 6th month, 
called August, 1683. 
My Kind Friends. 

The kindness of yours by the ship Thomas and Anne, doth 
much oblige me; for by it I perceive the interest you take 
in my health and reputation and the prosperous beginning 
of this province, which you are so kind as to think may much 
depend upon them. In return of which, I have sent you a 
long letter, and yet containing as brief an account of myself, 
and the affairs of this province, as I have_, been able to 
make. . . . 

But if I have been unkindly used by some I left behind 
me, I found love and respect enough where I came — an 
universal kind welcome, every sort in their way. For here 
are some of several nations, as well as di\ers judgments; nor 
were the natives wanting in this; for their kings, queens, 
and great men, both visited and presented me; to whom I 
made suitable returns, etc. 

For the province, the general condition of it take as fol- 
loweth. 

I. The country itself, in its soil, air, water, seasons, and 
produce, both natural and artificial, is not to be despised. 

62 



^ Further English Colonizaiion 63 

The land containeth divers sorts of earth, as sand, yellow and Soil and 
black, poor and rich; also gravel both loamy and dusty; pe^nsyN^ 
and in some places, a fast, fat earth, like to our best vales in vania. 
England, especially by inland brooks and rivers; God in his 
wisdom having ordered it so that the advantages of the 
country are divided, the back lands, being generally, three 
to one, richer than those that lie by navigable waters. We 
have much of another soil, and that is a black hasel-mould, 
upon a stony or rocky bottom. 

II. The air is sweet and clear, the heavens serene, like the 
south parts of France, rarely overcast; and as the woods 
come, by numbers of people, to be more cleared, that itself 
will refine. 

III. The waters are generally good; for the rivers and Rivers, 
brooks have mostly gravel and ston}' bottoms, and in num- 
ber hardly credible. We have also mineral waters not two 
miles from Philadelphia. 

IV. For the seasons of the year, having, by God's good- The 
ness, now lived over the coldest and hottest, that the oldest "he^y^r"' 
liver in the province can remember, I can say something to 

an English understanding. 

First, of the fall, for then I came in: I found it, from the 
24th of October, to the beginning of December, as we have 
it usually in England in September, or rather like an Eng- 
lish mild spring. From December, to the beginning of the 
month called March, we had sharp, frosty weather, not foul, 
thick, black weather, as our north-east winds bring with 
them in England; but a sky as clear as in summer, and the 
air dry, cold, piercing, and hungry; yet I remember not that 
I wore more cloaths, than in England. The reason for this 
cold is given from the great lakes, that are fed by the foun- 
tains of Canada. The winter before was as mild, scarce any 
ice at all ; while this, for a few days, froze up our great river 
Delaware. From that month, to the month called June, 
we enjoyed a sweet spring, no gusts, but gentle showers, and 
a fine sky. 

V. The natural produce of the country — of vegetables. 



/ 



64 Readings in American History 

Natural is trees, fruits, plants, flowers. The trees of most note, are 
tio'i^"'^ the black walnut, cedar, cypress, chestnut, poplar, gumwood, 
hickery, sassafras, ash, beech, and oak of divers sorts, as red, 
white, and black, Spanish chestnut and swamp, the most 
durable of all: of all which, there is plenty for the use of 
man. 

The fruits that I find in the woods, are the white and 
black mulberry, chestnut, walnut, plumbs, strawberries, 
cranberries, hurtleberries, and grapes of divers sorts. The 
great red grape, now ripe, called by ignorance, " the fox 
grape" (because of the relish it hath with unskilful palates), 
is in itself an extraordinary grape, and by art, doubtless, 
may be cultivated to an excellent wine, if not so sweet, yet 
little inferior to the fronteniac; as it is not much unlike in 
taste, ruddiness set aside; which in such things, as well as 
mankind, differs the case much. There is a white kind of 
muskadil, and a little black grape, like the cluster-grape of 
England, not yet so ripe as the other; but they tell me, when 
ripe, sweeter, and that they only want skilful vinerons to make 
good use of them. I intend to venture on it with my P'rench- 
man this season, who shews some knowledge in those things. 
Here are also peaches, very good, and in great quantities; 
not an Indian plantation without them: but whether natu- 
rally here at first, I know not: however, one may have them 
by bushels, for little. They make a pleasant drink, and I 
think, not inferior to any peach you have in England, except 
the true Newington. It is disputable with me, whether it 
be best to fall to fining the fruits of the country, especially 
the grape, by the care and skill of art, or send for foreign 
stems and sets, already good and approved. It seems most 
reasonable to believe, that not only a thing groweth best, 
where it naturally grows, but will hardly be equalled by 
another species of the same kind that doth not naturally 
grow there. But to solve the doubt, I intend, if God give 
me life, to try both, and hope the consequence will be as 
good wine, as any European countries, of the same latitude,^ 
do yield. 



Further English Colonization 



65 



VI. The artificial produce of the country, is wheat, *bar- Agricui- 
ley, oats, rye, pease, beans, squashes, pumkins, water-melons, *"jg' P"^"**' 
musk-melons, and all herbs and roots, that our gardens in 
England usually bring forth. 

VII. Of living creatures, fish, fowl, and the beasts of the Animal 
woods, here are divers sorts, some for food and profit, and 
some for profit only: for food as well as profit, the elk, as 

big as a small ox; deer bigger than ours; beaver, raccoon, 
rabbits, squirrels; and some eat young bear, and commend 
it. Of fowl of the land, there is the turkey (forty and fifty 
pounds weight) which is very great; pheasants, heath-birds, 
pigeons, and partridges in abundance. Of the water, the 
swan, goose, white and grey; brants, ducks, teal; also the 
snipe and curlew, and that in great numbers; but the duck 
and teal excel; not so good have I ever eat in other countries. 
Of fish, there is the sturgeon, herring, rock, shad, catshead, 
sheepshead, eel, smelt, perch, roach, and in inland rivers, 
trout, some say salmon above the falls. Of shell fish, we 
have oysters, crabs, cockles, conchs, and muscles; some 
oysters six inches long; and one sort of cockles, as big as the 
stewing oysters; they make a rich broth. The creatures for 
profit only, by skin or fur, and that are natural to these parts, 
are the wild cat, panther, otter, wolf, fox, minx, musk-rat: 
and of the water, the whale for oil, of which we have good 
store; and two companies of whalers, whose boats are built 
will soon begin their work, which hath the appearance of a 
considerable improvement; to say nothing of our reasonable 
hopes of good cod in the bay. 

VIII. We have no want of horses, and some are very good Exports, 
and shapely enough; two ships have been freighted to Bar- 
badoes with horses and pipe-staves since my coming. Here 

is also plenty of cow-cattle, and some sheep; the people 
plow mostly with oxen. 



* Edward Jones, son-in-law to Thomas Wynn, living on the Schuylkill, 
had, with ordinary cultivation, from one grain of English barley, seventy 
stalks and ears of barley; and it is common in this country, from one 
bushel sown, to reap forty, often fifty, and sometimes sixty — and three 
pecks of wheat sow an acre here. 



66 



Readings in American History 



Medicinal 
plants. 



Flowers. 



IX. There are divers plants, that not only the Indians 
tell us, but we have had occasion to prove, by swellings, 
burnings, cutts etc. that they are of great virtue, suddenly 
curing the patient: and for smell, I have observed several, 
especially one, the wild myrtle; the others, I know not what 
to call, but are most fragrant. 

X. The woods are adorned with lovely flowers, for colour, 
greatness, figure, and variety. I have seen the gardens of 
London best stored with that sort of beauty ; but think they 
may be improved by our woods. I have sent a few to a 
person of quality this year, for a trial. Thus much of the 
country; next of the natives, or Aborigines. . . . 



CHAPTER VII 

THE COLONIES AFTER THE RESTORATION, 1660-90 

16. Revolt Against the Authority of Governor 
Andros 

(An Account of the Late Revolution in New-England Together 
with the Declaration of the Gentlemen, Merchants, and Inhabitants 
of Boston, and the Country Adjacent, April 18, 1689. Written by- 
Mr. Nathanael Byfield, a merchant of Bristol, in New-England, to 
his Friends in London. — Peter Force, Collection of Historical Tracts, 
IV, No. X, 1-17.) 

We were put under a President and Council, without any No repre- 
liberty for an Assembly, which the other Americaji Planta- ^^g^^^iy 
tions have, by a Commission from his Majesti/. 

III. The Commission was as Illegal for the form of it. Attitude 
as the way of obtaining it was malicious and mireasonahle : change of 
yet we made no Resistance thereunto as we could easily govem- 
have done; but chose to give all Mankind a Demonstration 
of our being a people sufficiently dutiful and loyal to our 
King; and this with yet more satisfaction, because we took 
pains to make our selves believe as much as ever we could of 
the Whedle then offer'd unto us; That his Majesty's desire 
was no other than the happy encrease and advance of these 
Provinces by their more immediate Dependance on the 
Crown of England. And we were convinced of it by the courses 
immediately taken to damp and spoyl our Trade; whereof 
decoyes and complaints presently filled all the Country; 
while in the mean time neither the Honour nor the Treasure 
of the King was at all advanced by this new Model of our 
Affairs, but a considerable Charge added unto the Crown. 

67 



ment. 



68 



Readings in American History 



Authority 
of 

Governor 
Andros. 



Type of 

public 

ofHcials. 



IV. In little more than half a year we saw this Commis- 
sion superseded by another, yet more Absolute and Arbitrary, 
with which Sir Edmund Andros arrived as our Governour: 
who besides his Power, with the Advice and Consent of his 
Council, to make Laws and raise Taxes as he pleased; had 
also Authority by himself to Muster and Imploy all Persons 
residing in the Territory as occasion shall serve; and to 
transfer such Forces to any English Plantation in America, 
as occasion shall require. And several Companies of Souldiers 
were now brought from Europe, to support what was to be 
imposed upon us, not without repeated Menaces that some 
hundreds more were intended for us. 

V. The Government was no sooner in these Hands, but 
care was taken to load Preferments principally upon such 
men as were strangers to, and haters of the People: and 
every ones Observation hath noted, what Qualifications rec- 
ommended a man to publick Offices and Employments, only 
here and there a good man was used, where others could not 
easily be had; the Governour himself, with Assertions now 
and then falling from him, made us jealous that it would be 
thought for his Majesties Interest, if this people were re- 
moved and another succeeded in their room: And his far- 
fetch'd Instruments that were growing rich among us, 
would gravely inform us, that it was not for his Majesties 
Interest that we should thrive. But of all our oppressors 
we were chiefly squeezd by a crew of abject Persons, fetched 
from New York, to be the Tools of the Adversary, standing 
at our right hand; by these were extraordinary and intoller- 
able Fees extorted from every one upon all occasions, without 
any Rules but those of their own insatiable Avarice and 
Beggary; and even the probate of a will must now cost as 
many Pounds perhaps as it did Shillings heretofore; nor 
could a small Volume contain the other Illegalities done by 
these Horse-Leeches in the two or three Years that they have 
been sucking of us; and what Laws they made it was as 
impossible for us to know, as dangerous for us to break; . . . 

VI. It was now plainly affirmed, both by some in open 



The Colonics after the Restoration 69 

Council, and by the same in private converse, that the peo- 
ple in New-England were all Slaves and the only difference 
between them and Slaves is their not being bought and sold ; 
and it was a maxim delivered in open Court unto us by one 
of the Council, that we must not think the Privilcdges of English- 
men iroiild follow us to the end of the World.: Accordingly we 
have been treated with multiplied contradictions to Magna 
Charta, the rights of which we laid claim unto. Persons 
who did not peaceably object against the raising of Taxes 
without an Assembly, have been for it fined, some twenty, 
some thirty, and others fifty Pounds. Packt and pickt 
Juries have been very common things among us~, when, under 
a pretended form of Law, the trouble of some honest and 
worthy men had been aimed at; but when some of this 
Gang have been brought upon tlie stage for the most detest- 
able Enormities that ever the Sun beheld, all men have with 
admiration seen what methods have been takeii that they 
might not be treated according to their Crimes. Without 
a Verdict, yea, without a Jury sometimes have people been 
fined most unrighteously; and some not of the meanest 
Quality have been kept in long and close Imprisonment 
without any the least Information appearing against them, 
or an Habeas Corpus allowed unto them. In short, when 
our Oppressors have been a little out of mony, 'twas but 
pretending some offence to be enquired into, and the most 
innocent of men were continually put to no small Expence to 
answer the Demands of the Officers, who must have mony 
of them, or a prison for them tho none could accuse them 
of any Misdemeanour. 

VIII. Because these things could not make us miserable Titles to 
fast enough, there was a notable Discovery made of we know J^J^^ °"^^' 
not what^a«' in all our Titles to our Lands; and, tho besides 
our purchase of them from the Natives; and, besides our 
actual peaceable unquestioned possession of them for near 
threescore Years, and besides the Promise of K. Charles //, 
in his Proclamation sent over to us in the Year 16S3, That n& 
man here shall receive any Prejudice in his Eree-hold or Estate} 



70 



Readings in American History 



Appeal to 
the king. 



Seizure of 
ofiQcials. 



. . . Yet we were every day told, That no man was owner of 
a Foot of Land in all the Colony. Accordingly Writs of Intru- 
sion began every where to be served on People, that after all 
their Sweat and their Cost upon their formerly purchased 
Lands, thought themselves Free-holders of what they had. 
And the Governor caused the Lands pertaining to these and 
those particular Men, to be measured out for his Creatures 
to take possession of; and the Right Owners, for pulling up 
the Stakes, have passed through molestations enough to 
tire all the patience in the world. . . . 

IX. All the Council were not ingaged in these ill Actions, 
but those of them which were true Lovers of their Country, 
were seldom admitted to, and seldomer consulted at the 
Debates which produced these unrighteous Things; Care 
was taken to keep them under Disadvantages; and the 
Governor, with five or six more, did what they would. We 
bore all these, and many more such Things, without making 
any attempt for any Relief; only Mr. IVIather, purely out 
of respect unto the Good of his Afflicted Country, undertook 
a Voyage into England; which when these who suspected 
him to be preparing for, they used all manner of Craft and 
Rage, not only to interrupt his Voyage, but to ruin his Per- 
son too. God having through many Difficulties given him 
to arrive at White-hall, the King, more than once or twice, 
promised him a certain Magna Charta for a speedy Redress of 
many things which we were groaning under; and in the mean- 
time said That our Governor should he written unto, to forbear 
the Measures that he leas upon. However, after this, we were 
injured in those very Things which were complained of ; . . . 

XIL We do therefore seize upon the Persons of those 
few /// men which have been (next to our Sins) the grand 
Authors of our Miseries; resolving to secure them, for what 
Justice, Orders from his Highness, with the English Parlia- 
ment shall direct; lest, ere we are aware, we find what we 
may fear, being on all sides in danger our selves to be by 
them given away to a Foreign Power, before such Orders 
can reach unto us; for which Orders we now humbly wait. 



The Colonies after the Restoration 71 

In the mean time firmly believing, that we have endeavoured 
nothing but what meer Duty to God and our Country calls 
for at our Hands: We commit our Enterprise unto the 
blessing of Him, tcho hears the cry of the oppressed, and advise 
all our Neighbours, for whom we have thus ventured our- 
selves to joyn with us in Prayers and all just Actions for the 
Defence of the Land. 



PROCLAMATION SENT TO SIR EDMOND ANDROS 

At THE Town-House in Boston, 
(.^ . April 18, 1689. 

Our Selves and many others the Inhabitants of this Town, 
and the Places adjacent, being surprized tvith the peoples sudden 
taking of Arms; iii the first notion whereof we were wholly 
ignorant, being driven by the present Accident, are necessitated 
to acquaint your Excellency, that for the quieting and securing 
of the People inhabiting in this Country from the imminent 
Dangers they many ways lie open and exposed to, and tending 
your own Safety, We judge it necessary you forthwith surrender 
and deliver up the Government and Fortification to be jneserved 
and disposed according to Order and Direction from the Crown 
of England, which suddenly is expected may arrive; promising 
all security from violence to your Self or any of your Gentlemen 
or Souldiers in Person and Estate; Otherwise we are assured 
they will endeavour the taking of the Fortification by Storm, if 
any Opposition be made. 

To Sir Edmond Andross Kt. 

Waite Winthrop, Elisha Cook, 

Simon Bradstreet, Isaac Addington, 

William Stoughton, John Nelson, 

Samuel Shrimpton, Adam Winthrop, 

Bartholemew Gidney, Peter Sergeant, 

William Brown, John Foster, 

Thomas Danforth, David Waterhouse. 
John Richards, 



n 



Readings in American History 



Confes- 
sion of a 
supposed 
witch. 



Confes- 
sion of a 
just ire of 
the peace. 



17. Confession and Recantation of Witches 
(Massachusetts Historical Collections, Vol. I, third series, 124-126.) 

The Examination of Flizaheth Johnson, taken before me, 
Dudley Brwlstreet, one of their Majesties' Justices of the Peace 
for Essex, this lOth of August, 1G92. 

Elizabeth Johnson, heing accused of witchcraft, confessed 
as followeth: 

That Goody Carrier brought a })Ook to her, and that she 
set her hand to it, 

That Goody Carrier baptized her when she })aptized her 
daughter Sarah. And that Goody Carrier told her she should 
he saved if she would be a witch, 

That she had been at Salem village with Goody Carrier, 
and that she had been at the mock sacrament there, and saw 
Mr. Burroughs there. 

She confessed also, that she had afflicted several persons. 
That the first she afflicted was Lawrence Lacy. And that 
she and Thomas Carrier afflicted Sarah Phelps, and Mary 
Walcutt, and Ann Putnam, the 9th instant, and that she 
had afflicted them this day as she came to town. And that 
she had afflicted a child of Ephraim Davis, the 9th instant 
and this day, by pinching it. And that she afflicted Ann Put- 
nam with a spear. 

That she and Goody Carrier afflicted Benjamin Abbott. . . . 
Dudley Bradstreet, Justice Peace. 

Gentlemen; 

I thought it meet to give you this broken account, hoping 
it may be of some service, I am wholly unacquainted with 
affairs of this nature, neither have the benefit of books for 
forms, etc.; but being unadvisedly entered upon service, I 
am wholly unfit for, beg that my ignorance and failings may 
be as much covered as conveniently may be; which will be 
ever acknowledged by 

Your poor and unworthy servant, 

Dudley Bradstreet. 



The Colonies after the Restoration 73 

I know not whether to make any returns. Bonds I have 
taken. The custos rotulorum I know not, etc. 

To the Honoured Bartholcmew Gedneij, John Hathorne, Esq., 
or any of their Majesties' Justices of the Peace in Salem, 
these humbly prese7it. 



18. Examination for Witchcraft 
(Thomas Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts Bay, II, 31-33.) 

The examination and confession (8 Sept. 92.) of Mary 
Osgood, wife of Captain Osgood of Andover, taken before 
John Hawthorne and other their Majesties justices. 

She confesses, that about 11 years ago, when she was in 
a melancholy state and condition, she used to walk abroad 
in her orchard; and upon a certain time, she saw the appear- 
ance of a cat, at the end of the house, which yet she thought 
was a real cat. However, at that time, it diverted her from 
praying to God, and instead thereof she prayed to the devil ; 
about which time she made a covenant with the devil, who, 
as a black man, came to her and presented her a book, upon 
which she laid her finger and that left a red spot: and that 
upon her signing, the devil told her he was her God, and that 
she should serve and worship him, and she believes, she con- 
sented to it. She says further, that about two years agone, 
she was carried through the air, in company with deacon 
Frye's wife, Ebenezer Baker's wife and Goody Tyler, to 
five mile pond, where she was baptized by the devil, who 
dipped her face in the water and made her renounce her 
former baptism, and told her she must be his, soul and body, 
forever, and that she must serve him, which she promised 
to do. She says, the renouncing her first baptism was after 
her dipping, and that she was transported back again 
through the air, in company with the forenamed persons, 
in the same manner as she went, and believes they were 
carried on a pole. 

Q. How many persons were on the pole? 



74 Readings in American History 

A. As I said before, viz. four persons and no more but 
whom she had named above. — She confesses she had afflicted 
three persons, John Sawdy, Martha Sprague, and Rose 
Foster, and that she did it by pinching her bed cloaths, and 
giving consent the devil should do it in her shape, and that 
the devil could not do it without her consent. — She confesses 
the afflicting persons in the court, by the glance of her eye. 
She says as she was coming down to Salem to be examined, 
she and the rest of the company with her stopped at Mr. 
Phillips's to refresh themselves, and the afflicted persons 
being behind them upon the road, came up just as she was 
mounting again and were then afflicted, and cried out upon 
her, so that she was forced to stay until they were all past, 
and said she only looked that way towards them. 

Q. Do you know the devil can take the shape of an inno- 
cent person and afflict? 

A. I believe he cannot. 

Q. Who taught you this way of witchcraft? 

A. Satan, and that he promised her abundance of satis- 
faction and quietness in her future state, but never performed 
anything; and that she had lived more miserably and more 
discontented since, than ever before. She confesses further, 
that she herself, in company with Goody Parker, Goody 
Tyler, and Goody Dean, had a meeting at IMoses Tyler's 
house last Monday night, to afflict, and that she and Goody 
Dean carried the shape of Mr. Dean, the minister, between 
them, to make persons believe that Mr. Dean afflicted. 

Q. What hindered you from accomplishing what you 
intended? 

A. The Lord would not suffer it to be, that the devil 
should afflict in an innocent person's shape. 

Q. Have you been at any other witch meetings? 

A. I know nothing thereof, as I shall answer in the 
presence of God and his people; but said, that the black man 
stood before her, and told her, that what she had confessed 
was a lie; notwithstanding, she said that what she had con- 
fessed was true; and there to put her hand. Her husband 



The Colonics affrr flic Resioraiion 75 

being present was asked, if he judged his wife to be any 
ways discomposed. He answered, that having Hved with 
her so long, he doth not judge her to be any ways discom- 
posed, but has cause to believe what she says is true. — When 
Mistress Osgood was first called, she afflicted Martha Sprague 
and Rose Foster, by the glance of her eyes, and recovered 
them out of their fits by the touch of her hand. Mary Lacey 
and Betty Johnson and Hannah Post saw Mistress Osgood 
afflicting Sprague and P^oster. — The said Hannah Post and 
Mary Lacey and Betty Johnson, jun. and Rose Foster, and 
Mary Richardson were afflicted by Mistress Osgood, in the 
time of their examination, and recovered by her touching of 
their hands. 

I underwritten, being appointed by authority, to take this 
examination, do testify upon oath, taken in court, that this 
is a true copy of the substance of it, to the best of my knowl- 
edge, 5 Jan. 1692-3. The within Mary Osgood was examined 
before their Majesties justices of the peace in Salem. 

Attest. John Higginson, Just. Pac. 

19. Recantation of Confessors of Witchcraft 

(Massachusetts Historical Collections, Vol. Ill, second series, 
221-225.) 

Salem, Oct. 19, '92. 
The Rev. IMr. I. Mather went to Salem [to visit] the con- 
fessours (so called) : He conferred with several of them, and 
they spoke as follows: Mrs. Osgood freely and relentingly 
said, that the confession which she made upon her examina- 
tion for witchcraft, and afterwards acknowledged before the 
honourable judges, was wholly false, and that she was brought 
to the said confession by the violent urging and unreason- 
able pressings that were used toward her; she asserted that 
she never signed to the devill's book, was never baptised by 
tlie devill, never afflicted any of the accusers, or gave her 
consent for their being afflicted. Being asked, why she pre- 
fixed a time and spoke of her being baptised etc., about 



76 Readings in American History 

tu'dve years since; she replyed, and said, that when she had 
owned the thing, they asked the time; to which she answered, 
that she knew not the time; but being told that she did 
know the time and must tell the time, and the like; she con- 
sidered that about twelve years before she had a fitt of sick- 
nesse, and was melancholy; and so thought that that time 
might be as proper a time to mention as any, and accord- 
ingly did prefix the said time. 

Being asked about the cat, in the shape of which she had 
confessed the devill appeared to her etc.; she replyed, that 
being told that the devill had appeared to her, and must 
needs appear to her etc. ; (she being a witch) she at length did 
own that the devill had appeared to her; and being press'd 
to say in what creature's shape he appeared in, she at length 
did say, that it was in the shape of a cat; remembering that 
some time before her being apprehended, as she went out at 
her door, she saw a cat etc.: not as though she any whitt 
suspected the said cat to be the de\'ill in the day of . . . but 
because some creature she must mention, and this came thus 
into her mind at that time. . . . 

Goodwife Tyler did say, that when she was first appre- 
hended, she had no fears upon her, and did think that 
nothing could have made her confesse against herself; but 
since, she had found to her great grief, that she had wronged 
the truth, and falsely accused herself; she said; that when 
she was brought to Salem, her brother Bridges rode with 
her, and that all along the way from Andover to Salem, her 
brother kept telling her that she must needs be a witch, 
since the afflicted accused her, and at her touch were raised 
out of their fitts, and urging her to confess herself a witch; 
she as constantly told him, that she was no witch, that she 
knew nothing of witchcraft, and begg'd of him not to urge 
her to confesse; however when she came to Salem, she was 
carried to a room, where her brother on one side, and Mr. 
John Emerson on the other side did tell her that she was 
certainly a witch, and that she saw the devill before her 
eyes at that time (and accordingly the said Emerson would 



The Colonies after the Restoration 77 

attempt with his hand to beat him away from her eyes) and 
they so urged her to confesse, that she wished herself in any 
dungeon, rather than be so treated; Mr. Emerson told her 
once and again, Well! I see you will not confesse! Well! I 
will now leave you, and then you are undone, body and soul 
forever: Her brother urged her to confesse, and told her 
that in so doing she could not lye; to which she answered, 
good Brother, do not say so, for I shall lye if I confesse, and 
then who shall answer unto God for my lye? He still as- 
serted it, and said that God would not suffer so many good 
men to be in such an errour about it, and that she would be 
hang'd, if she did not confesse, and continued so long and so 
violently to urge and presse her to confesse, that she thought 
verily her life would have gone from her, and became so terry- 
fied in her mind, that she own'd at length almost anything 
that they propounded to her; but she had wronged her con- 
science in so doing, she was guilty of a great sin in belying of 
herself, and desired to mourn for it as long as she lived; 
This she said and a great deal more of the like nature, and 
all of it with such affection, sorrow, relenting, grief, and 
mourning, as that it exceeds any pen for to describe and 
expresse the same. 



CHAPTER VIII 



THE FRENCH IN AMERICA 



Organiza- 
tion of 
Iroquois. 



Military 
prowess. 



20. Characteristics of the Iroquois Indians 

(William Smith, The History of the Province of New York from 
the First Discovery to the Year 1732, Part II, 34, 36 passim. 
London, 1757.) 

These, of all those innumerable Tribes of Savages, which 
inhabit the northern part of America, are of most importance 
to us and the French, both on account of their vicinity and 
warlike disposition. Before the late incorporation of the 
Tuscaroras, a People (Iriven by the inhabitants of Carolina 
from the frontiers of Virginia, they consisted of five confed- 
erate Cantons. What in particular gave rise to this League, 
and when it took place, are ciuestions which neither the 
Natives, nor Europeans, pretend to answer. Each of these 
Nations is divided into three families, or Clans, of different 
ranks, bearing for their arms, and being distinguished by the 
names of the Tortoise, the Bear, and the Wolf. 

No people in the world perhaps, have higher notions than 
these Indians of military glory. All the surrounding nations 
have felt the effects of their prowess; and many not only 
became their Tributaries, but were so subjugated to their 
power, that without their consent, they durst not commence 
either peace or war. 

Though a regular police for the preservation of harmony 
within, and the defence of the State against invasions from 
without, is not to be expected from the people of whom I 
am now writing, yet perhaps, they have paid more attention 
to it than is generally allowed. Their government is suited 

78 



TJie French in America 79 

to their condition. A people whose riches consist not so 
much in abundance, as in a freedom from want; who are 
circumscribed by no boundaries, who live by hunting, and 
not by agriculture, must always be free, and therefore sub- 
ject to no other authority, than such as consists with the 
liberty necessarily arising from their circumstances. All The 
their affairs, whether respecting peace or war, are under the ^^^ ®™^' 
direction of their Sachems, or chief men. Great exploits and 
public ^artue procure the esteem of a people, and qualify a 
man to advise in Council, and execute the plan concerted for 
the advantage of his country: thus whoever appears to the 
Indians in this advantageous light, commences as a Sachem 
without any other ceremony. 

As there is no other way of arriving at this dignity, so it 
ceases, unless an uniform zeal and activity for the common 
good, is uninterruptedly continued. Some have thought it 
hereditary, but that is a mistake. The son, is indeed, re- 
spected for his father's services, but without personal merit, 
We can never share in the government ; which were it other- 
wise, must sink into perfect disgrace. The children of such 
are distinguished for their patriotism, moved by the con- 
sideration of their birth, and the perpetual incitements to 
virtue constantly inculcated into them, imitate their father's 
exploits, and thus attain to the same honours and influence; 
which accounts for the opinion that the Title and Power of 
Sachem is hereditary. 

Each of these republics has its own particular chiefs, who 
hear and determine all complaints in Council, and though 
they have no officers for the execution of Justice, yet their 
decrees are always obeyed, from the general reproach that 
would follow a contempt of their advice. The condition of 
this people exempts them from factions, the common disease 
of popular governments. It is impossible to gain a party 
amongst them by indirect means; for no man has either 
honour, riches, or power to bestow. 

All affairs which concern the general interest are deter- Assembly 
mined in a great assembly of the chiefs of each Canton, usually °^ Chiefs. 



80 



Readings in American History 



French 

and 

Iroquois. 



Houses. 



IjQve of 
ornaments 



Not 
laborers. 



Food. 



held at Onondaga, the center of their country. I'pon emer- 
gencies, they act separately, but nothing can bind the League 
but the voice of the general convention. 

The French, upon the maxim, "divide et impera," have 
tried all possible means to divide these Republics, and some- 
times have even sown great jealousies amongst them. In 
consequence of this plan, they have seduced many families 
to withdraw to Canada, and there settled them in regular 
towns, under the command of a fort, and the tuition of 
missionaries. 

The manners of these savages are as simple as their govern- 
ment. Their houses are a few crotched stakes thrust into 
the ground, and over-laid with bark. A fire is kindled in 
the middle, and an aperture left at the top for the convey- 
ance of the smoke. Whenever a considerable number of 
those huts are collected, they have a Castle, as it is called, 
consisting of a square without bastions, surrounded with 
Pallisades. They have no other fortification; and this is 
only designed as an asylum for their old men, their wi\-^s 
and children, when the rest are gone out to war. They live 
almost entirely without care. While the women, or squaws, 
cultivate a little spot of ground for corn, the men employ 
themselves in hunting. . . . Many of them are fond of 
ornaments, and their taste is very singular. I have seen 
rings affixed, not only to their ears, but their noses. Bracelets 
of silver and brass around their wrists, are very common. 
The women plait their hair, and tie it up behind in a bag, 
perhaps in imitation of the French beaux in Canada. 
Though the Indians are capable of sustaining great hard- 
ships, yet they cannot endure much labor, being rather fleet, 
than strong. Their men are taller than the Europeans, 
rarely corpulent, always beardless, straight limbed, of a 
tawny complexion, and black uncurled hair. In their food 
they have no manner of delicacy, for though venison is their 
ordinary diet, yet sometimes they eat dogs, bears, and even 
snakes. Their cookery is of two kinds, boiled or roasted; to 
perform the latter, the meat is penetrated by a short sharp 



The French in America 



81 



War- 
dance. 



stick set in the ground, inclining towards the fire, and turned 
as occasion requires. They are hospitable to strangers, 
though few Europeans would relish their highest favors of 
this kind, for the;^' are very nasty both in their garments and 
food. . . . 

Since they became acquainted with the Europeans, their Weapons, 
warlike apparatus is a musket, hatchet, and a long knife. 
Their boys still accustom themselves to bows and arrows, 
and are so dextrous in the use of them, that a lad of sixteen, 
will strike an English shilling five times in ten at twelve or 
fourteen yards distance. Their men are excellent marks- 
men, both with the gun and hatchet; their dexterity at the 
latter is very extraordinary, for they rarely miss the object, 
though at a considerable distance. The hatchet in the flight 
perpetually turns round, and yet always strikes the mark 
with the edge. 

Before they go out, they have a feast upon dog's flesh, 
and a great war dance. At these, the warriors, who are 
frightfully painted with vermilion, rise up and sing their 
own exploits, or those of their ancestors, and thereby kindle 
a military enthusiasm in the whole company. The day 
after the dance, they march out a few miles in a row, observ- 
ing a profound silence. The procession being ended, they 
strip the bark from a large oak, and paint the design of their 
expedition on the naked trunk. The figure of a canoe, with 
the number of men in it, determines the strength of their 
party; and by a deer, a fox, or some other emblem painted 
at the head of it, we discover against what nation they are 
gone out. 

The Five Nations being devoted to war, every art is con- Return 
trived to diffuse a military spirit through the whole body of par^tj**'^' 
their people. The ceremonies attending the return of a 
party; seem calculated in particular for that purpose. The 
day before they enter the \illage, two heralds advance, and 
at a small distance set up a yell, which by its modulation in- 
timates either good or bad news. If the former, the \'illage 
is alarmed, and an entertainment provided for the con- 



82 



Readings in American History 



Methods 
of attack. 



Treatment 
of prison- 
ers. 



Peace 

cere- 
monies. 



qiierors, who in the mean time approach in sight: one of them 
bears the scalps stretched over a bow, and elevated upon a 
long pole. The boldest man in the town comes out, and re- 
ceives it, and instantly Hies to the hut where the rest are col- 
lected. If he is overtaken, he is beaten unmercifully; but 
if he outruns the pursuer, he participates in the honour of 
the victors, who at their first entrance receive no compli- 
ments, nor speak a single word till the end of the feast. 
Their parents, wives, and children then are admitted, and 
treat them with the profoundest respect. After these salu- 
tations, one of the conquerors is appointed to relate the whole 
adventure, to which the rest attentively listen, without ask- 
ing a question, and the whole concludes with a savage 
dance. 

The Indians never fight in the field, or upon equal terms, 
but always skulk and attack, by surprise, in small parties, 
meeting every night at a place of rendezvous. Scarce any 
enemy can escape them, for by the disposition of the grass 
and leaves, they follow his track with great speed an;y'where 
but over a rock. Their barbarity is shocking to human 
nature. Women and children they generally kill and scalp, 
because they would retard their progress, but the men they 
carry into captivity. If any woman has lost a relation, and 
inclines to receive the prisoner in his stead, he not only 
escapes a series of the most inhuman tortures, and death it- 
self, but enjoys every immunity they can bestow, and is 
esteemed a member of the family, into w'hich he is adopted. 
To part with him would be the most ignominious conduct, 
and considered as selling the blood of the deceased; and for 
this reason it is not without the greatest difficulty, that a 
Captive is redeemed. 

When the Indians incline to peace, a messenger is sent to 
the enemy with a pipe, the bowl of which is made of soft, red, 
marble; and a long reed beautifully painted, and adorned 
with the gay plummage of birds, forms the stem. This is 
his infallible protection from any assault on the way. The 
envoy makes his proposals to the enemy, who if they ap- 



The French in America 83 

prove them, ratify the prehminaries to the peace, by smoking 
through the pipe, and from that instant, a general cessation 
of arms takes place. The French call it a Calumet. It is 
used, as far as I can learn, by all the Indian nations upon the 
Continent. The rights of it are esteemed sacred, and have 
been only invaded by the Flat Heads; in just indignation 
for which, the Confederates maintained a war with them for 
near thirty years. . . . 

21. Father Marquette's Two Journeys 

Jacques Marquette joined the order of Jesuits and came to 
America in 1666. After spending five years in the missions along 
the Saint Lawrence River, he came to the mission of Saint Ignace, 
then located on Mackinac Island, but later removed to the main- 
land. Here he was joined by Joliet, who had been engaged in making 
explorations for deposits of copper. Joliet brought orders from the 
governor of New France commanding him, with Marquette for his 
companion, to search for a Great River which was supposed to flow 
into the Gulf of California. — (Jesuit Relations, Marquette's Journal. 
Thwaites's translation. With permission of Burrows Brothers, 
Cleveland, Ohio.) 

THE FIRST VOYAGE OF FATHER MARQUETTE 

We were not long in preparing all our equipment, although Prepara- 
we were about to begin a voyage, the duration of which we 
could not foresee. Indian corn, with some smoked meat, 
constituted all our provisions; with these we embarked — 
Monsieur Jollyet and myself, with five men — in two bark 
canoes, fully resolved to do and suffer everything for so 
glorious an undertaking. 

Accordingly, on the 17th day of May, 1673, we started 
from the Mission of St. Ignace at Michilimakinac, where I 
then was. The joy that we felt at being selected for this 
expedition animated our courage, and rendered the labor of 
paddling from morning to night agreeable to us. And be- 
cause we were going to seek unknown countries, we took 
every precaution in our power, so that, if our undertaking 



tion for the 
expedition. 



84 



Readings in American History 



were hazardous, it should not be foolhardy. To that end 
we ol)tained all the information that we could from savages 
who had frequented those regions; and we even traced out 
from their reports a map of the whole of that new country; 
on it we indicated the rivers which we were to navigate, the 
names of the peoples and of the places through which we 
were to pass, the course of the great river, and the direction 
we were to follow when we reached it. 

Tho seven men rowed west from the mission at Mackinaw, crossed 
northern Lake Michigan, and turned south on Green Bay to the 
mouth of the Fox River, and crossed a portage to the Wisconsin 
River. 



Down the 
Wisconsin. 



On the 
Missis- 
sippi. 



The river on which we embarked is called Meskousing 
[Wisconsin]. It is very wide; it has a sandy bottom, which 
forms various shoals that render its navigation very difficult. 
. . . Our route lay to the southwest, and, after navigating 
a))out thirty leagues, we saw a spot presenting all the appear- 
ances of an iron mine; and, in fact, one of our party who 
had formerly seen such mines, assures us that the one which 
we found is very good and very rich. It is covered with 
three feet of good soil, and is quite near a chain of rocks, the 
base of which is covered by very fine trees. After proceed- 
ing forty leagues on this same route, we arrived at the mouth 
of our river; and, at forty-two and a half degrees of latitude 
we safely entered Mississippi on the 17th of June, with a joy 
that I cannot express. 

We gently followed its course, which runs toward the 
south and southeast, as far as the 42nd degree of latitude. 
Here we plainly saw that its aspect was completely changed. 
There are hardly any woods or mountains; the islands are 
more beautiful, and are covered with finer trees. We saw 
only deer and cattle, bustards, and swans without wings, 
because they drop their plumage in this country. . . . When 
we cast our nets into the water, we caught sturgeon. . . . 

When we reached the parallel of 41 degrees 28 minutes, 
following the same direction, we found that the turkeys had 



The French in America 85 

taken the place of game; and the pisikious,* or wild cattle, 
that of the other animals. 

We call them "wild cattle," because they are very similar Buffalo, 
to our domestic cattle. They are not longer, but are nearly 
as large again, and more corpulent. When our people killed 
one, three persons had much difficulty in moving it. The 
head is very large; the forehead is flat, and a foot and a half 
wide between the horns, which are exactly like those of our 
oxen, but black and much larger. Under the neck they 
have a sort of large dewlap, which hangs down; and on the 
back is a rather high hump. The whole of the head, the neck, 
and a portion of the shoulders, are covered with a thick mane 
like that of horses ; it forms a crest a foot long, which makes 
them hideous, and, falling over their eyes, prevents them from 
seeing what is before them. The remainder of the body is 
covered with a heavy coat of curly hair, almost like that of 
our sheep, but much stronger and thicker. It falls off in 
summer, and the skin becomes as soft as velvet. At that 
season, the savages use the hides for making fine robes, 
which they paint in various colors. The flesh and the fat 
of the pisikious are excellent, and constitute the best dish at 
feasts. Moreover, they are very fierce; and not a year 
passes without their killing some savages. When attacked, 
they catch a man on their horns, if they can, toss him in the 
air, and then throw him on the ground, after which they 
trample him under foot, and kill him. If a person fire at 
them from a distance, with either a bow or a gun, he must, 
immediately after the shot, throw himself down and hide in 
the grass; for if they perceive him who has fired, they run 
at him, and attack him. As their legs are thick and rather 
short, they do not run very fast, as a rule, except when angry. 
They are scattered about the prairie in herds; I have seen 
one of 400. . . . 

Marquette and Joliet came upon a tribe of Illinois Indians, on 
the west bank of the Mississippi, possibly near the mouth of the 
Des Moines River. 

* The Indian name for the bison or buffalo. 



86 Readings in American History 

Meeting Seeing all assembled and silent, I spoke to them by four 

i^J^i^^^ presents that I gave them. By the first, I told them that 
we were journeying peacefully to visit the nations dwelling 
on the river as far as the sea.* By the second, I announced 
to them that God, who had created them, had pity on them, 
inasmuch as, after they had been so long ignorant of him, 
he wished to make himself known to all the peoples; that I 
was sent by him for that purpose; and that it was for them 
to acknowledge and obey him. By the third, I said that the 
great captain of the French informed them that it was he 
who restored peace everywhere ; and that he had subdued the 
Iroquois. Finally, by the fourth, we begged them to give us 
all the information that they had about the sea, and about 
the nations through whom we must pass to reach it. . . . 

The council was followed by a great feast, consisting of 
four dishes, which had to be partaken of in accordance with 
all their fashions. The first course was a great wooden 
platter full of sagamite — that is to say, meal of Indian corn 
boiled in water, and seasoned with fat. The master of cere- 
monies filled a spoon with sagamite three or four times, and 
put it to my mouth as if I were a little child. He did the 
sajne to Monsieur Jollyet. As a second course, he caused a 
second platter to be brought, on which were three fish. He 
took some pieces of them, removed the bones therefrom, and, 
after blowing upon them to cool them, he put them in our 
mouths as one would give food to a bird. For the third 
course, they brought a large dog, that had just been killed; 
but, when they learned that we did not eat this meat, they 
removed it from before us. Finally, the fourth course was 
a piece of wild ox, the fattest morsels of which were placed 
in our mouths. 
Account of When one speaks the word "Illinois," it is as if one said 
in their language, "the men," — as if the other savages were 
looked upon by them merely as animals. . . . 

* It had been supposed that the Mississippi River flowed into the Gulf 
of California. But on this journey, as Marquette and Jollet noted the 
direction the stream was taking, they became convinced that it emptied 
into the Gulf of Mexico. 



the Illi- 
nois. 



The French in America 87 

When the Illinois depart to go to war, the whole village 
must be notified by a loud shout, which is uttered at the 
doors of their cabins, the night and morning before their 
departure. The captains are distinguished from the war- 
riors by wearing red scarfs. These are made, with consider- 
able skill, from the hair of bears and wild cattle. They paint 
their faces with red ocher, great quantities of which are found 
at a distance of some days' journey from the village. They 
live by hunting, game being plentiful in that country, and on 
Indian corn, of which they always have a good crop; con- 
sequently, they have never suffered from famine. They 
also sow beans and melons, which are excellent, especially 
those that have red seeds. Their squashes are not of the 
best; they dry them in the sun, to eat them during the 
winter and the spring. Their cabins are very large, and are 
roofed and floored with mats made of rushes. They make 
all their utensils of wood, and their ladles out of the heads 
of cattle, whose skulls they know so well how to prepare 
that they use these ladles with ease for eating their saga- 
mite. . . . 

Here is one of the songs they are in the habit of singing. 
They give it a certain turn which cannot be sufficiently 
expressed by note: Ninahani, ninaham, ninahani, nani ongo. 

We take leave of our Illinois at the end of June, about 
three o'clock in the afternoon. We embark in the sight of 
all the people who admire our little canoes, for they have 
never seen any like them. 

Some distance below the mouth of the Ohio they met a band of 
Indians who informed them that they were not more than ten days 
from the sea. 

This news animated our courage, and made us paddle 
with fresh ardor. We thus push forward, and no longer see 
so many prairies; because both shores of the river are bor- 
dered with lofty trees. The cottonwood, elm, and bass-wood 
trees there are admirable for their height and thickness. 
The great numbers of wild cattle, which we heard bellowing. 



88 Readings in American History 

led us to believe that the prairies are near. We also saw 
quail on the water's edge. We killed a little paroquet, one 
half of whose head was red, the other half and the neck yellow, 
and the whole body green. . . . 

Monsieur Joll^'et and I held another council, to deliberate 
upon what we should do — whether we should push on, or 
remain content with the discovery which we had made. 
After attentively considering that we were not far from the 
Gulf of Mexico, the basin of which is at the latitude of 31 
degrees CO minutes, while we were at 33 degrees 40 minutes, 
we judged that we could not be more than two or three days' 
journey from it; and that, beyond a doubt, the Mississippi 
River discharges into the Florida or Mexican gulf, and not 
to the east in Virginia, whose sea-coast is at 34 degrees lati- 
tude — which we had passed, without, however, having as 
yet reached the sea — or to the west in California, because in 
that case our route would have been to the west, or the west 
southwest, . . . We had obtained all the information that 
could be desired in regard to this discovery. All these 
reasons induced us to decide upon returning; this we an- 
nounced to the savages, and, after a day's rest, made our 
preparations for it. 
The After a month's navigation, while descending the Missis- 

sippi from the 42nd to the 34th degree, and beyond, and 
after preaching the Gospel as well as I could to the nations 
that I met, we start on the 1 7th of July from the village of 
the Akensea, to retrace our steps. We therefore reascend 
the Mississippi, which gives us much trouble in breasting 
its currents. It is true that we leave it, at about the 3Sth 
degree, to enter another river, which greatly shortens our 
road, and takes us with but little effort to the lake of the 
Illinois [Lake Michigan]. 

We have seen nothing like this river that we enter, as 
regards its fertility of soil, its prairies and woods; its cattle, 
elk, deer, wildcats, bustards, swans, ducks, paroquets, and 
even beaver. There are many small lakes and rivers. That 
on which we sailed is wide, deep, and still, for sixty-five 



return 
voyage 



The French in America 89 

leagues. In the spring and during part of the summer there 
is only one portage of half a league. We found on it a vil- 
lage of Illinois called Kaskasia, consisting of 74 cabins. 
They received us very well, and obliged me to promise that 
I would return to instruct them. One of the chiefs of this 
nation, with his young men, escorted us to the lake of the 
Illinois, whence, at last, at the end of September, we reached 
the Bay des Puantz [Green Bay], from which we had started 
at the beginning of June. 

THE SECOND VOYAGE OF FATHER MARQUETTE, WRITTEN BY 
HIMSELF AND SUPPLEMENTED BY FATHER DABLON's 
RELATION 

Marquette passed the winter at the mission of St. Francis, near 
Green Bay. Late the next summer, with two Frenchmen as com- 
panions, Marquette set out for the Illinois along the western shore 
of Lake Michigan. They wintered on the Chicago portage. 

Having been compelled to remain at St. Francois through- 
out the summer on account of an ailment, of which I was 
cured in the month of September, I awaited there the return 
of our people from down below [Quebec], in order to learn 
what I was to do with regard to my wintering. They 
brought me orders to proceed to the mission of la Concep- 
tion among the Illinois. . . . 

Having encamped near the portage, two leagues up the 
river, we resolved to winter there, as it was impossible to go 
farther, since we were too much hindered and my ailment 
did not permit me to give myself too much fatigue. . . . 

dablon's continuation OF Marquette's journey* 

On at last arriving at the village, he was received as an 
angel from Heaven. He resoh'ed to address all in public, in 
a general assembly which he called together in the open air, 

* Marquette was too ill to continue the daily entries in his journal. 



90 Readings in American History 

the cabins being too small to contain all the people. It was 
a beautiful prairie, close to a village,* which was selected for 
the great council; this was adorned after the fashion of the 
country, by covering it with mats and bear-skins. Then 
the father, having directed them to stretch out upon lines 
several pieces of Chinese taffeta, attached to these four large 
pictures of the blessed Virgin, which were visible on all sides. 
The audience was composed of 500 chiefs and elders, seated 
in a circle around the father, and of all the young men, who 
remained standing. They numbered more than 1,500 men, 
without counting the women and children, who are always 
numerous — the village being composed of 5 or 600 fires. 
The father addressed the whole body of people, and conveyed 
to them ten messages, by means of ten presents which he 
gave them. He explained to them the principal mysteries 
of our religion, and the purpose that had brought him to 
their country. . . . 

After the Illinois, filled with great esteem for the Gospel, 
had taken leave of the father,t he continued his journey, 
and shortly after reached the lake of the Illinois, upon whose 
waters he had to journey nearly a hundred leagues, by an 
unknown route, whereon he had never before traveled; for 
he was obliged to coast along the southern [Eastern] shore of 
the lake, having come by the northern [Western]. But his 
strength was so rapidly diminishing that his two men de- 
spaired of being able to bring him alive to the end of their 
journey. . . . 

They accordingly brought him to the land, lighted a little 
fire for him, and prepared for him a wretched cabin of bark. 
. . . And so, with a countenance beaming and all aglow, he 
expired without any struggle, and so gently that it might 
have been regarded as a pleasant sleep. . . . 

* Near Starved Rock, Illinois. 

t Marquette, after remaining about two weeks, was forced, because of 
ill health, to set out for Saint Ignace. 



The French in America 91 



22. La Salle and the Discovery of the Mouth of 
THE Mississippi River 

Rene Robert Cavalier, Sieur de La SaUe, was born in 1643, of an 
old and wealthy family of Rouen, France.* In the year 1666 he came 
to Canada and soon began his labors as an explorer. 

A friendship sprang up between La Salle and the new governor, 
Count Frontenac. When the latter, in 1673, in his desire to shut 
out the English at Albany from the trade with the Indians of the 
Northwest, erected a fort, at the outlet of Lake Ontario, he placed 
La Salle in command. Going to France, the following year. La 
Salle was granted, by the King, the right of seigneur over Fort Fron- 
tenac and extensive surrounding territory and was also given a title 
of nobility. In return, he was to rebuild the fort of masonry at his 
own expense and become responsible for its maintenance. For two 
years he was engaged in developing the resources of Fort Frontenac 
as a frontier post, and a village of French families was established 
under the protection of the fort. But the ambition of La Salle was 
not satisfied. He dreamed of the great river, partially explored by 
Joliet and Marquette, which he believed flowed into the Gulf of 
Mexico. It became his desire to discover its mouth, gain control 
of the trade and make it a stronghold against the encroachments of 
the Spaniards and the English, and possibly from its headwaters 
reach China and Japan. 

In order to gain authority to carry out his plan. La Salle, in 1677, 
again visited France. His description of the wealth of the wonder- 
ful country which he desired to explore and its future value to 
France won the favor of Colbert, then chief minister of Louis XIV. 
The King granted him letters patent for five years. f 

On his return in September, 1678, La Salle brought with him 
iron, cordage and sails, and also ship-carpenters who were to con- 
struct two vessels for fur-trading on the Lakes and on some branch 
of the Mississippi. Among the thirty-two men who accompanied 
him to Canada, none proved of as much service to La Salle as Henri 
de Tonty, a young adventurous Italian officer, full of energy and 
courage. Father Louis Hennepin, who was anxious to join the ex- 
pedition, and other missionaries of the order of Recollects, met the 
party at Quebec. Arriving at the head of the Niagara river, in 

* He signed his name De la Salle. Hi.s name was Robert Cavalier. 
The name by which he is known, Sieur de La Salle, was derived from an 
estate of his family near Rouen. 

t An official document issued by a king (or other sovereign) which granted 
some privilege to an individual or company was called "Letters Patent." 



92 Readings in American History 

January, a fortified warehouse was built. Bj- spring a vessel of 
forty tons burden, the Griffin, was also completed.* 

On the seventh of August, La Salle and his companions, thirty- 
four in all, embarked on the Griffin and set sail on the waters of 
Lake Erie. After a voyage of twenty days, the Jesuit mission at 
St. Ignace was reached. Early in September, they again embarked 
and proceeded to the entrance of Green Bay. Here the vessel was 
loaded with furs, which had been collected by an advance party sent 
out by La Salle the year before, and was started back to Fort Niagara. 

La Salle with fourteen men, in four canoes, then advanced along 
the western shore of Lake Michigan. Tonty with twenty men pro- 
ceeded along the eastern shore and the two leaders, after escaping 
death from hunger, from storms and at the hands of Indians, met 
at the mouth of the St. Joseph River, where they built a fort. On 
December 3, they ascended that river some seventy miles to the 
portage, near the site of the present city of South Bend, Indiana. 

tonty's description of la Salle's discovery of the 
mouth of the mississippi 

We made the portage, which extends about two leagues, 
and came to the source of the Illinois river. We embarked 
there, and ascending [descending] the river for 100 leagues 
arrived at a village of the sa\'ages.t They were absent hunt- 
ing, so as we had no provisions we opened some caches of 
Indian corn. During this journey some of our Frenchmen 
were so fatigued that they determined to leave us, but the 
night they intended to go was so cold that their plan was 
broken up. 

As it was necessary to fortify ourselves during the winter, 
we made a fort which we called Crevecoeur.J Part of our 

* The vessel was built at the mouth of Cayuga Creek, which flows into 
Niagara River above the cataract. La Salle, in the meantime, with two 
companions returned to Fort Frontenac for supplies, a distance of two hun- 
dred pnd fifty miles, passing through the teiritof.v of tlie Iroquois. They 
had for food only a bag of parched corn, wliich failed them two days before 
they reached the fort. See Parkman, La Salle, p. 13.5. 

t Located near the site of the present village of Utica, Illinois. Across 
llie river stands the lofty cliff known as "Starved Rock." This Indian 
village contained several distinct irihes of the Illinois. The population 
changed from time to time. In 1(57.5 Marquette is said to have addressed 
at this place 1,500 men, beside women and children. 

t Crevecoeur was a stronghold in the Netherlands which had been cap- 
tured by Louis XIV. The fort was located near the site of Peoria, Illinois. 



The French in America 93 

people deserted and they had even put poison into our kettle. 
M. de la Salle was poisoned, but he was saved by some anti- 
dote a friend had given him in France. The desertion of 
these men gave us less annoyance than the effect which it 
had on the minds of the savages. 

M. de la Salle commenced building a boat to descend the Father 
river. He sent a Father Recollect [Hennepin], with the "n™*" 
Sieur Deau to discover the nation of the Sioux 400 leagues And the 
from the Illinois on the Mississippi river southwards [north- the Missis- 
ward], a river that runs not less than 800 leagues to the sea ^ippi- 
without rapids.* He determined to go himself, by land, to 
Fort Frontenac, because he had heard nothing of the boat 
which he had sent to Niagara. He gave me the command of 
this place, and left us on the 22d of March with five men. . . . 

La Salle had directed Tonty to go to "Starved Rock" and there 
build a strong fort. On the waj^ Tonty was deserted by all of his 
companions save five men. Early in September the Illinois Indians 
were attacked by the Iroquois. Tonty and his companions were 
made prisoners by the Iroquois, a young warrior attempting to kill 
Tonty. They were finally allowed to escape. One of the number 
met his death, within a few hours, at the hands of the Kickapoos. 
The survivors journeyed by the way of the Des Plaines River and 
Chicago River to Lake Michigan, and after great suffering finally 
reached the Jesuit mission on Green Bay. Had they gone by the 
Saint Joseph River, they would doubtless have met La Salle, who had 
learned of their disaster and was hastening with a party to their 
relief. La Salle found the fort at the mouth of that river in ruins. 
He left some of his men to rebuild it, and with six others again 
advanced to the Illinois River. He found that the Illinois tribes 
had been driven from their homes. December 4 he set out to 
follow the river to its mouth, and reached the Mississippi. Con- 

* During the winter several delegations of Indians from distant tribes 
came to visit the Illinois in order to see the white men. Among them were 
the Sioux who dwelt near the sources of the ISIississippi. They invited the 
French to visit them in their homes, which they said were near the " western 
sea." Hennepin is spoken of as the leader of the party of three selected 
to go to explore the upper Mississippi. Michel Accault (Ako), noted for 
his bravery and for his knowledge of Indian languages, was the real leader. 
Hennepin told the story of the expedition and assumed a large place for 
himself. The party ascended the Mississipjii, to tlie Falls of Saint Anthony, 
some live hundred miles above the mouth of the Illinois. They were taken 
prisoners by the Sioux, but were rescued by Duluth, who, witli four other 
Frenchmen, was visiting the Sioux to secure their trade in furs. 



94 



Readings in American History 



Voyage 
down the 
Missis- 
sippi. 



trarj- to the wishes of his comrades, who desired to descend the 
river, La Salle turned northward, hoping to find some trace of 
Tonty. Day after day the party plunged through the snow up to 
the waist, suffering from extreme cold and hunger, and finally, at 
the end of January, were again at the mouth of the Saint Joseph. 
Here he learned from some hunting Indians that Tonty was safe 
at Green Bay. Fort Miami was rebuilt, and on May 25 La Salle 
set out for Mackinac. Here, to the great joy of both, the two 
leaders met again. Neither of them thought of abandoning the 
enterprise. After going to Canada, partially satisfying his creditors, 
and obtaining fresh supplies. La Salle and his party returned to 
Fort Miami, reaching there December 19. Tonty's narration con- 
tinues as follows: 

We went in canoes to the River Chicagou, where there is 
a portage which joins that of the IlUnois.* The rivers being 
frozen, we made sledges and dragged our baggage thirty 
leagues below the village of Illinois, where, finding the navi- 
gation open, we arrived at the end of Januaryf at the great 
River Mississippi. We descended the river, and found si.x 
leagues below, on the right, a great river, J which comes from 
the west, on which there are numerous nations. We slept 
at its mouth. The next day we went on to the village of 
Tamarous, six leagues off on the left. There was no one 
there, all the people being at their winter quarters in the 
woods. We made marks to inform the savages that we had 
passed, and continued our route as far as the RiverOuabache,§ 
which is eighty leagues from that of Illinois. It comes from 
the east, and is more than 500 leagues in length. It is by 
this river that the Iroquois advance to make war against 
the nations of the south. Continuing our voyage about 
sixty leagues, we came to a place which was named Fort 
Prudhomme, because one of our men lost himself there when 
out hunting and was nine days without food. As they were 
looking for him they fell in with two Chikasas savages, 
whose village was three days' journey inland. They have 

* There were 54 members in the party, 23 being Frenchmen, 18 Indian 
warriors, 10 squaws and 3 Indian children. 

t February 6. 
\ i The Missouri — called by the French, Emissourita. 

$ The Ohio — Oyo of the Iroquois. 



The French in America 



95 



2,000 warriors, the greatest number of whom have flat heads, 
which is considered a beauty among them. . . . We pro- 
ceeded on our course, and after sailing 40 leagues, arrived at 
the sea on the 7th of April, 1682. 

M. de la Salle sent canoes to inspect the channels; some The mouth 
of them went to the channel on the right hand, some to the ^issfs- 
left, and M. de la Salle chose the centre. In the evening sippi 
each made his report, that is to say, that the channels were 
very fine, wide, and deep. We encamped on the right 
bank; we erected the arms of the King,* and returned several 
times to inspect the channels. The same report was made. 
The river is 800 leagues long, without rapids, 400 from the 
country of the Scioux, and 400 from the mouth of the Illinois 
river to the sea. The banks are almost uninhabitable, on 
account of the spring floods. The woods are all those of a 
boggy district, the country one of canes and briars and of 
trees torn up by the roots ; but a league or two from the river, 
the most beautiful country in the world, prairies, woods of 
mulberry trees, vines, and fruits that we were not acquainted 
with. The savages gather the Indian corn twice a year. 
In the lower part of the river, which might be settled, the 
river makes a bend north and south, and in many places 
every now and then is joined by streams on the right and 
left. The river is only navigable (for large vessels) as far as 
the village of Natches, for above that place the river winds 
too much; but this does not prevent the navigation of the 
river from the confluence of the Ouabache and the Missis- 
sippi as far as the sea. There are but few beavers, but, to 
make amends, there is a large number of buffaloes, bears, 
large wolves, stags and hinds in abundance, and some lead 
mines, which yield two-thirds of ore to one of refuse. As 
these savages are stationary, and have some habits of subor- 



* This ceremony took place April 9, 1682. A rude column was made 
out of the trunk of a tree. Upon this was placed the arms of the King, 
made out of one of their copper kettles. Amidst the firing of muskets and 
the shouts of "Vive le Roi," the column was raised by La Salle, who thus 
took possession of the Mississippi valley in the name of Louis XIV, King 
of France. 



96 Readings in American History 

dination, they might be obHgecI to make silk in order to pro- 
cure necessaries for themselves; bringing to them from France 
the eggs of silkworms, for the forests are full of mulberry 
trees. This would be a valuable trade. . . . We then went 
on to the Taencas, and then to the Arkansas, where we were 
very well received. From thence we came to Fort Prud- 
homme, where M. de la Salle fell dangerously ill, which 
obliged him to send me forward, on the 6th of May, to arrange 
his affairs at Missilimakinac [Mackinac]. . . . 

23. French and English Contest for the Control 
OF the Ohio Valley 

By the year 1750 it was appreciated by both the French and Eng- 
lish authorities that the struggle for the control of the Ohio was in- 
evitable. Because of the increase in the numbers of English traders 
and the grants of lands on the Ohio, the French determined upon 
a more vigorous policy to maintain their supremacy. In 1749, 
Captain Celeron de Bienville at the head of two hundred and thirty 
men set out to take military possession of the Ohio country. As 
he passed down the Ohio he buried leaden plates at the mouths of a 
number of the streams flowing into the Ohio. The inscription on 
these plates indicated that France had retaken possession of the 
country. During the year 1753, Fort Presque Isle [Erie], and Fort 
Le Boeuf were erected by the French and the following year they 
built Fort Venango and Fort Duquesne [Pittsburgh]. Their plan 
was to construct a chain of forts by which they could maintain con- 
trol of the valley. — (E. B. O'Callaghan, Documents Relating to (he 
Colonial History of the State of New York, Paris Documents, 1745-8, 
X, 239, 258 passim.) 



MINISTERIAL MINUTE ON THE ATTEMPTS OF THE ENGLISH 
TO SETTLE ON THE OHIO 

English The English always occupied with plans to extend their 

Ohi^o** possessions, and to confine those of his Majesty, in North 

America, have undertaken since the last war to carry their 
trade towards the Beautiful river [Ohio] which is situated 
in the interior, between Canada and Louisiana, and forms the 
principal communication between these two Colonies; to 



The French in America 97 

corrupt the Indian nations of that quarter, and even to es- 
tabHsh posts there. 

The Marquis de la Jonquiere having been informed of French 
those attempts, adopted measures last year to prevent their i'®^'^**'^'^^- 
success. He organized divers detachments of Frenchmen 
and Indians, which, according to his arrangements, were to 
form a junction this spring to proceed at once to the Beau- 
tiful river, drive the English from it, and bring back the 
Indians who might have allowed themselves to be debauched 
by the intrigues of that nation. 

News of the result was expected at the end of this year, 
but private letters have arrived from Canada stating that the 
Marquis de la Jonquiere has abandoned that project, and 
insinuating that private interest has led some one, in whom 
he had placed his confidence, to dissuade him from it, by 
making him apprehend creating thereby a general Indian 
war. 

This motive would be good, if it were valid. It is proper 
always to avoid, as much as possible, war with the Indians; 
but, it appears, that on this occasion, it was not difficult to 
guarantee himself against it. 

The question is not to operate against the Indians, but to 
prevent the interloping trade the English are driving in a 
country belonging to us, and which, previous to the last war, 
they would be careful not to dispute us; this is proposed to 
be effected by checking at the same time the views they 
entertain of establishing posts there. It is easy, therefore, 
to render the Indians indifferent in this regard; nay, even 
to induce them to understand that for the sake of their own 
tranquillity and of the freedom of their trade, in which we 
have never clogged them, they must wish that we should 
stop the progress of the English schemes. 

'Twould therefore be unfortunate if the Marquis de la 
Jonquiere has abandoned the project he has formed for that 
purpose; and although the private advices announcing that 
change on his part may be unfounded, it appears, neverthe- 
less, proper not to keep him in ignorance of them; to inform 



98 



Readings in American History 



French 
claims to 
the Ohio, 



him, at the same time, that his Majesty continues to expect 
the execution of this project; that there is, in fact, no other 
course to adopt than to drive from the Beautiful river any 
European foreigners who will happen to be there, so as to 
make them lose all taste for returning thither, observing, 
notwithstanding, the caution practicable in these sorts of 
matters. 

As for the rest, there is no reason to apprehend any justi- 
fiable complaints on the part of the Court of England. The 
French were the discoverers of the Beautiful river, which 
has always served as a communication, as already observed, 
between Canada and Louisiana. We always carried on 
trade there without any interruption, and have sent con- 
siderable detachments thither on various occasions. 

23rd September, 1751. 



French 
plans. 



The Marquis de la Jonquiere reported last year, that the 
Indian nations of the Upper Countries were threatening 
a sort of general conspiracy against the French, and that the 
English who succeeded in debauching them by presents and 
intrigues, were pledged to sustain them by arms.. 

He stated, at the same time, that the reports made to 
him by some faithful Nations, caused him to conclude that 
effectual measures must be indespensably adopted, both to 
bring the nations that had joined the confederacy, back to 
their attachment to France, or to oblige them to return to 
their duty, and to destroy, by force of arms, the posts the 
English might have undertaken to erect on our territory 
towards the River Ohio, whence they set all these movements 
on foot; and this Governor transmitted at the same time, 
a plan of operations which he was to execute, and which 
consisted principally in despatching at the beginning of 
autumn last year, several detachments for various posts, 
whence they were to make a junction at the opening of the 
spring, at a rendezvous, indicated to them, to act according 
to circumstances. 

We learn by letters received from the Marquis de la Jon- 



The French in America 99 

quiere, and dated last September, that his plan was badly 
executed; that the officers entrusted with its execution had 
undertaken nothing against the rebellious Indians, nor against 
the English posts, and that the movements of those Indians 
are becoming every day more dangerous. . . . 



MINUTE OF INSTRUCTIONS TO BE GIVEN M. DUQUESNE 

The River Ohio, otherwise called the Beautiful River, and French vs. 
its tributaries belong indesputably to France, by virtue of ci°i^g^ 
its discovery by Sieur de la Salle; of the trading posts the 
French have had there since, and of possession which is so 
much the more unquestionable as it constitutes the most 
frequent communication from Canada to Louisiana. It is 
only within a few years that the English have undertaken to 
trade there; and now they pretend to exclude us from it. 

They have not, up to the present time, however, main- 
tained that these rivers belong to them; they pretend only 
that the Iroquois are masters of them and being the Sover- 
eigns of these Indians, that they can exercise their rights. 
But 'tis certain that these Indians have none, and that, 
besides, the pretended sovereignty of the English over them 
is a chimera. 

Meanwhile 'tis of the greatest importance to arrest the 
progress of the pretensions and expeditions of the English in 
that quarter. Should they succeed there, they would cut 
off the communication between the two colonies of Canada 
and Louisiana, and would be in a position to trouble them, 
and to ruin both the one and the other, independent of the 
advantages they would at once experience in their trade to 
the prejudice of ours. 

An}' complaints that may be presented to the Court of 
England against the English governors would be altogether 
futile. On the one hand it would be very difficult to obtain 
proofs of the most serious facts ; and on the other, no matter 
what proofs may be produced, that Court will find means 



100 



Readings in American History 



French 
plans to 
control 
Indians. 



to elude all satisfaction, especially as long as the boundaries 
are not settled. 

It is necessary then, to act on the spot, and the {juestion 
to be determined is, what means are the most proper. 

It is not known what steps the Marquis de la Jonquiere 
will take this year; but whatever they be, it appears that the 
orders to be given on this subject to M. Duquesne, who is to 
succeed him in the government, must have principally for 
their object, to avoid, as much as it will be possible, an Indian 
war on that account. 

Wars of this character are always extremely expensive, 
and very rarely productive of any real advantage. 

Therefore, without undertaking, as the Marquis de la 
Jonquiere appears to have proposed, to drive from the River 
Ohio the Indians who are looked upon as rebels or suspected, 
and without wishing even to destroy the liberty of their 
trade, it is thought best to adhere to two principal points. 

1st. To make every possible effort to drive the English 
from our territory, and to prevent them coming there to 
trade. 

2nd. To give the Indians to understand at the same time 
that no harm is intended them, that they will have liberty 
to go as much as they please to the p]nglish to trade, but will 
not be allowed to receive these on our territory. 

There is reason to believe that by this course of conduct; 
by providing our posts with plenty of goods and preventing 
our traders dictating to the Indians, our trade will soon 
recover the superiority over that of the English in those 
parts; for 'tis certain the Indians do not like to go into 
their towns, nor forts. . . . 



English 
claims on 
Ohio. 



governor dinwiddie to m. de st. pierre 
Sir, 

The lands upon the river Ohio, in the western parts of the 
Colony of Virginia, are so notoriously known to be the prop- 
erty of the Crown of Great Britain that it is a matter of equal 
concern and surprise to me, to hear that a body of French 



The French in America 101 

forces are erecting fortresses and making settlements upon 
that ri\er, within his Majesty's dominions. The many and 
repeated complaints I have received of these acts of hostility 
lay me under the necessity of sending, in the name of the 
King, my master, the bearer hereof, George Washington, Esq., 
one of the Adjutant-Generals of the forces of this dominion, 
to complain to you of the encroachments thus made, and of 
the injuries done to the subjects of Great Britain, in viola- 
tion of the law of nations, and the treaties now subsisting 
between the two Crowns. If these facts be true, and you 
think fit to justify your proceedings, I must desire you to 
acquaint me by whose authority and instructions you have 
lately marched from Canada with an armed force, and in- 
vaded the King of Great Britain's territories, in the manner 
complained of; that according to the purport and resolution 
of your answer, I may act agreeably to the commission I am 
honored with, from the King, my master. However, sir, 
in obedience to my instructions, it becomes my duty to 
require your peacable departure; and that you would fore- 
bear prosecuting a purpose so interruptive of the harmony 
and good understanding, which his Majesty is desirous to 
continue and cultivate with the most Christian King, etc. 

Robert Dinwiddie. 
October 31, 1753. 

24. George Washington and the French Posts on 
THE Ohio, 1753 

When George Washington set out as the agent of Governor Din- 
widdie to the French posts on the Ohio, he was accompanied by 
Christopher Gist, who, as agent of the Ohio Company, had already 
gone over the route for the purpose of exploring the lands clainied 
by that company. The following account of Washington's ex- 
pedition is taken from Christopher Gist's Journals, 80 passim. 

Wednesday 14 November, 1753. — Then Major George 
Washington came to my house at Will's Creek, and delivered 
me a letter from the council in Virginia, requesting me to 



102 Readimjs in American History 

attend him up to the commandant of the French fort on the 

Ohio River. 

The ex- Thursday 15. — We set out, and at night encamped at 

sets'ou" George's Creek, about eight miles, where a messenger came 

with letters from my son, who was just returned from his 

people at the Cherokees, and lay sick at the mouth of 

Conegocheague. But as I found myself entered again on 

public business, and IMajor Washington and all the company 

unwilling I should return I wrote and sent medicines to my 

son, and so continued my journey, and encamped at a big 

hill in the forks of Youghioganj', about eighteen miles. , . . 

Sunday IS. — And at night got to my house in the new 

settlement about twenty-one miles; snow about ankle 

deep. . . . 

Tuesday 4. — Set out about fifteen miles, to the town of 

Venango, where we were kindly and complaisantly received 

by Monsieur Joncaire, the French interpreter for the Six 

Nations. . . . 

Arrival Tuesday 11. — We set out, travelled about fifteen miles to 

French ^^^ French fort, the sun being set. Our interpreter gave 

forts. the commandant notice of our being over the creek; upon 

which he sent several officers to conduct us to the fort, and 

they received us with a great deal of complaisance. 

Wednesday 12. — The INIajor gave the passport, showed 
his commission, and offered the Governor's letter to the com- 
mandant; but he desired not to recei\'e them, until the other 
commander from Lake Erie came, whom he had sent for, 
and expected next day by twelve o'clock. 

Thursday 13. — The other General came. The Major de- 
livered the letter, and desired a speedy answer; the time of 
year and business required it. They took our Indians into 
private council, and gave them several presents. . . . 

Friday. 21. — The ice was so hard we could not break our 
way through, but were obliged to haul our vessels across a 
point of land and put them in the creek again. The Indians 
and three French canoes o\ertook us here, and the people 
of one French canoe that was lost, with her cargo of powder 



The French in America 



103 



The return 
expedition. 



and lead. This night we encamped about twenty miles 
above Venango. 

Saturday 22. — Set out. The creek began to be very low 
anil we were forced to get out, to keep our canoe from over- 
setting, several times; the water freezing to our clothes; 
and we had the pleasure of seeing the French overset, and 
the brandy and wine floating in the creek, and run by them, 
and left them to shift for themselves. Came to Venango, 
and met with our people and horses. 

Sunday 23. — We set out from Venango, travelled about 
five miles to Lacomick creek. 

Monday 24. — Here INIajor Washington set out on foot in 
Indian dress. Our horses grew weak, that we were mostly 
obliged to travel on foot, and had snow all day. Encamped 
near the barrens. 

Tuesday 25. — Set out and travelled on foot to branches 
of Great Beaver creek. 

Wednesday 26. — The Major desired me to set out on foot, Hardships, 
and leave our company, as the creeks were frozen, and our 
horses could make but little way. Indeed, I was unwilling 
he should undertake such a travel, who had never been used 
to walking before this time. But as he insisted on it, I set 
out with our packs, like Indians, and travelled eighteen miles. 
That night we lodged at an Indian cabin, and the Major 
was much fatigued. It was very cold; all the small runs 
were frozen, that we could hardly get water to drink. 

Thursday 27. — We rose early in the morning, and set out 
about two o'clock. Got to the Murthering town, on the 
southeast fork of Beaver Creek. Here we met with an In- 
dian, whom I thought I had seen at Joncaire's at Venango, 
when on our journey up to the French fort. This fellow 
called me by my Indian name, and pretended to be glad to 
see me. He asked us several ciuestions, as how we came to 
travel on foot, when we left Venango, where we parted with 
our horses, and when they would be there, etc. Major 
Washington insisted on travelling on the nearest way to 
forks of Alleghany. We asked the Indian if he could go with 



104 Readings in American Ilisiory 

us, and show us the nearest way. The Indian seemed very 
glad and ready to go with us. T'pon which we set out, and 
the Indian took the Major's pack. We travelled very brisk 
for eight or ten miles, when the Major's feet grew very sore, 
and he very weary, and the Indian steered too much north- 
eastwardly. The Major desired to encamp, to which the 
Indian asked to carry his gun. But he refused that, and then 
the Indian grew churlish, and pressed us to keep on, telling 
us that there were Ottawa Indians in these woods, and they 
would scalp us if we lay out; but to go to his cabin, and we 
should be safe. I thought very ill of the fellow, but did not 
care to let the Major know I mistrusted him. But he soon 
mistrusted him as much as I. He said he could hear a gun 
to his cabin, and steered us more northwardly. We grew 
uneasy, and then he said two whoops might be heard to his 
cabin. We went two miles further; then the Major said he 
would stay at the next water, and we desired the Indian to 
stop at the next water. But before we came to water, we 
came to a clear meadow; it was very light, and snow on the 
ground. The Indian made a stop, turned about; the Major 
saw him point his gun towards us and fire. Said the Major, 
"Are you shot?" "No," said I. I'pon which the Indian 
ran forward to a big standing white oak, and to loading his 
gun; but we were soon with him. I would have killed him, 
but the Major would not suffer me to kill him. We let him 
charge his gun ; we found he put in a ball ; then we took care 
of him. The Major or I always stood by the guns; we 
made him make a fire for us by a little run, as if we intended 
to sleep there. I said to the Major, " As you will not have 
him killed, we must get him away, and then we must travel 
all night." l^pon which I said to the Indian, " I suppose 
you were lost, and fired your gun." He said, he knew the 
way to his cabin, and 'twas but a little way. "Well," said I, 
"do you go home; and as we are much tired, we will follow 
your track in the morning; and here is a cake of bread for 
you, and you must give us meat in the morning." He was 
glad to get away. I followed him, and listened until he was 



The French in Aincrica 105 

fiiirly out of the way, and then we set out about half a mile, 
when we made a fire, set our compass, and fixed our course, 
and travelled all night, and in the morning we were on the 
head of Piney Creek. . . . 

Saturday 29. — We set out early, got to x411eghany, made a 
raft, and with much difficulty got over to an island, a little 
above Shannopin's town. The Major having fallen in from 
off the raft, and my fingers frost-bitten, and the sun down, 
and very cold, we contented ourselves to encamp upon that 
island. It was deep water between us and the shore; but 
the cold did us some service, for in the morning it was frozen 
hard enough for us to pass over on the ice. . . . 

Wednesday 2. — Set out and crossed Youghiogany on the 
ice. Got to my house in the new settlement. . . . 

Friday 4. — Set out for Will's Creek, where we arrived on 
Sunday January 6. 



CHAPTER IX 

THE ENGLISH COLONIES IN THE EIGHTEENTH 
CENTURY 



Size of 
New York 
City. 



Food 
products. 



Churches. 



25. Social and Economic Conditions in New York 
City, 1732 

(William Smith, The History of the Projyince of New York from 
the First Discovery to the Year MDCCXXXII, 188, 217 passiin. 
London, 1757.) -; i^ 

The city of New York, as I have elsewhere had occasion 
to mention, "consists of about two thousand five hundred 
buildings. It is a mile in length, and not above half that in 
breadth." . . . The streets are irregular, but being paved 
with round pebbles are clean, and lined with well built brick 
houses, many of which are covered with tiled roofs. 

No part of America is supplied with markets abounding 
with greater plenty and variety. We ha\e beef, pork, mutton, 
poultry, butter, wild fowl, venison, fish, roots, and herbs, of 
all kinds, in their seasons. Our oysters are a considerable 
article in the support of the poor. Their beds are within 
view of the town; a fleet of two hundred small craft, arc often 
seen there, at a time, when the weather is mild in winter; 
and this single article is computed to be worth annually 10 
or 12,000 £. . . . 

The inhabitants of New York are a mixed people, but 
mostly descended from the original Dutch planters. There 
are still two churches, in which religious worship is per- 
formed in that language. The old building is of stone and 
ill built, ornamented within by a small organ loft and brass 
branches. The new church is a high, heavy, edifice, with a 

10(1 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 107 

very extensive area, and was completed in 1729. It has no 
galleries, and yet will perhaps contain a thousand or twelve 
hundred auditors. The steeple of this church affords a most 
beautiful prospect, both of the City beneath and the sur- 
rounding country. . . . 

There are, besides the Dutch, two Episcopal churches in 
this city, upon the plan of the established church in South 
Britain. Trinity church was built in 1696, and afterwards 
enlarged in 1737. It stands very pleasantly upon the banks 
of Hudson's river, and has a large cemetery, on each side, in- 
closed in the front by a painted paled fence. Before it a 
long walk is railed off from the Broad-way, the pleasantest 
street of any in the whole town. This building is about 148 
feet long, including the tower and chancel, and 72 feet in 
breadth. . . . 

The church is, within, ornamented beyond any place of 
public worship amongst us. The head of the chancel is 
adorned with an Altar-piece, and opposite to it, at the other 
end of the building, is the organ. The tops of the pillars, 
which support the galleries, are decked with the gilt busts of 
angels winged. P'rom the ceiling are suspended two glass 
branches, and on the walls hang the arms of some of its prin- 
cipal benefactors. The allies are paved with flat stones. 

The present rector of this church is the Rev. Mr. Henry 
Barclay, formerly a missionary among the Mohawks, who 
receives 100 £ a year, levied upon all the other clergy and 
laity in the city, by virtue of an act of Assembly procured by 
Governor Fletcher. He is assisted by Dr. Johnson and Mr. 
Auchmuty. 

This congregation, partly by the arrival of strangers from 
Europe, but principally by proselytes from the Dutch 
churches, is become so numerous, that though the old building 
will contain 2,000 hearers, yet a new one was erected in 1752. 
This, called St. George's Chapel, is a very neat edifice, faced 
with hewn stone and tiled. The steeple is lofty, but irreg- 
ular; and its situation in a new, crowded, and ill-built, part 
of the town . . . 



108 Readhujs in, American History 

Tlie revenue of this church is restricted, by an Act of 
Assembly, to 500 £ per annum ; but it is possessed of a real 
Estate, at the north end of the town, which having been 
lately divided into lots and let to farm, will, in a few years, 
produce a much greater income. 

The Presbyterians, increasing after Lord Cornbury's return 
to England, called Mr. Anderson, a Scotch minister, to the 
pastoral charge of their congregation; and Dr. John Nicol, 
Patrick Mac Night, Gilbert Livingston and Thomas Smith, 
purchased a piece of ground and founded a church, in 1719. 
Two years afterwards they petitioned Colonel Schuyler, who 
had then the chief command, for a charter of incorpora- 
tion, to secure their estate for religious worship, upon the 
plan of the church in North-Britain; but were disappointed 
in their expectations, through the opposition of the episcopal 
party. . . . 

The French church, by the contentions in 1724, and the 
disuse of the language, is now reduced to an inconsiderable 
handful. . . . 

The German Lutheran churches are two. Both their 
places of worship are small: one of them has a cupola and 
bell. 

The Quakers have a Meeting-house, and the Moravians, a 
new sect among us, a church, consisting of female proselytes 
from other societies. Their service is in the English tongue. 

The Anabaptists assemble at a small Meeting-house, but 
have as yet no regular settled congregation. The Jews, who 
are not inconsiderable for their numbers, worship in a syna- 
gogue erected in a \ery private part of the town, plain with- 
out, but very neat within. 
City Hall. The City Hall is a strong brick building, two stories in 
height, in the shape of an oblong, winged with one at each 
end, at right angles with the first. The floor below is an 
open walk, except two jails and the jailor's apartments. The 
cellar underneath is a dungeon, and the garret above a com- 
mon prison. This edifice is erected in !i place where four 
streets meet, and fronts, to the southwest, one of the most 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 109 

spacious streets in town. The eastern wing, in the second 
story, consists of the Assembly chamber, a lobby, and a small 
room for the Speaker of the House. The west wing, on the 
same floor, forms the Council room and a library; and in the 
space between the ends, the Supreme Court is ordinarily held. 

The library consists of a 1000 volumes, which were be- 
queathed to "The Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel in Foreign Parts," by Dr. Millington, rector of Newing- 
ton. . . . 

In 17.54, a set of gentlemen undertook to carry about a public 
subscription towards raising a public library, and in a few li'^^^'ry- 
days collected near 600 £ which were laid out in purchasing, 
about 700 volumes of new, well-chosen books. Every sub- 
scriber, upon payment of 5 £ principal, and the annual sum 
of 10 s. is entitled to the use of these books. His right by the 
articles is assignable, and for non-compliance with them may 
be forfeited. The care of this library is committed to twelve 
Trustees, annually elected by the subscribers, on the last 
Tuesday of April, who are restricted from making any rules 
repugnant to the fundamental subscription. . . . 

The singular conveniency of Hudson's river to this province 
in particular, was so fully shown in one of the late papers, pub- 
lished in 1753, under the title of the Independent Reflector, 
that I cannot help reprinting the passage relating to it. 

" The province of Pennsylvania, has a fine soil, and through com- 
the importance of Germans, abounds with inhabitants; but merdai ^ 
being a vast inland country, its produce must, of consecjuence, of New " 
be brought to a market over a great extent of ground, and all ^°'^^- 
by land carriage. Hence it is, that Philadelphia is crowded 
with wagons, carts, horses, and their drivers; a stranger, at 
his first entrance, would imagine it to be a place of traffic, 
beyond any one town in the colonies; while at New- York, in 
particular, to which the produce of the country is all brought 
by water, there is more business, at least, business of profit, 
though with less show and appearance. Not a boat in our 
river is navigated with more than two or three men at most; 
and these are perpetually coming in from, and returning to. 



110 Readings in American History 

all parts of the adjacent country, in the same emploj-ments, 
that fill the city of Philadelphia with some hundreds of men, 
who, in respect to the pul)lic' advantage may justly be said, 
to be laboriously idle: for, let anj^ one nicely compute the 
expense of a wagon, with its tackling; the time of two men 
in attending it; their maintenance; four horses and the 
charge of their provender, on a journey of one, though they 
often come, two hundred miles; and he will find, these sev- 
eral particulars amount to a sum far from l)eing inconsider- 
able. All this time the New York farmer is in the course of 
his proper business, and the unincumbered acquisitions of his 
calling; for, at a medium, there is scarce a farmer in the 
province, that cannot transport the fruits of a year's labor, 
from the best farm, in three days, at a proper season, to some 
convenient landing, where the market will be to his satisfac- 
tion, and all the wants from the merchant, cheaply supplied: 
besides which, one boat shall steal into the harbor of New 
York, with a lading of more burden and value, than forty 
wagons, one hundred and fifty horses, and eighty men, into 
Philadelphia; and perhaps with less noise, bluster, or show 
than one. ..." 

English The bigotry and tyranny of some of our governors, together 

with the great extent of their grants, may also be considered 
among the discouragements against the full settlement of 
the province. Most of these gentlemen coming over with no 
other view than to raise their own fortunes, issued extravagant 
patents, charged with small quit rents, to such as were able 
to serve them in the Assembly, and these patentees being gen- 
erally men of estates, have rated their lands so exorbitantly 
high, that very few poor persons could either purchase or 
lease them. Add to all these, that the New England planters 
have always been disaffected to the Dutch, nor was there, 
after the surrender, any foreign accession from the Nether- 
lands. The province being thus poorly inhabited, the price 
of labour became so enormously enhanced, that we have been 
constrained to import negroes from Africa, who are employed 
in all kinds of servitudes and trades. 



governors. 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 111 

English is the most prevailing language amongst us, but Language 
not a little corrupted by the Dutch dialect, which is still so ^^^g ^l^' 
much used in some counties, that the sheriffs find it difficult people, 
to obtain persons sufficiently acquainted with the English 
tongue, to serve as jurors in the Courts of Law. 

The manners of the people differ as well as their language. 
In Suffolk and Queen's County, the first settlers of which were 
either natives of England, or the immediate descendants of 
such as begun the plantations in the eastern Colonies, their 
customs are similar to those prevailing in the English coun- 
ties, from which they originally sprang. In the city of New- 
York, through our intercourse with the Europeans, we follow 
the London fashions; though by the time we adopt them, 
they become disused in England. Our affluence, during the 
late war, introduced a degree of luxury in tables, dress, and 
furniture, with which we were before unacquainted. But 
still we are not so gay a people, as our neighbors in Boston 
and several of the southern colonies. The Dutch counties, 
in some measures, follow the example of New York, but still 
retain many modes peculiar to the Hollanders. 

The city of New York consists principally of merchants, 
shopkeepers, and tradesmen, who sustain the reputation of 
honest, punctual, and fair, dealers. With respect to riches, 
there is not so great an inequality amongst us, as is common 
in Boston and some other places. Every man of industry 
and integrity has it in his power to live well, and many are 
the instances of persons, who came here distressed by their 
poverty who now enjoy ease and plentiful fortunes. 

New York is one of the most social places on the continent. Social 
The men collect themselves into weekly Evening Clubs, conditions. 
The ladies, in winter, are frequently entertained either at 
concerts of music or assemblies, and make a very good appear- 
ance. They are comely and dress well, and scarce any of 
them have distorted shapes. Tinctured with a Dutch edu- 
cation, they manage their families with becoming parsimony, 
good providence, and singular neatness. The practise of 
extravagant gaming, common to the fashionable part of the 



112 Readbujs in American Ilififory 

fair sex, in some places, is a vice with which my country- 
women cannot justly be charged. There is nothing they so 
generally neglect as reading, and indeed all the arts for the 
improvement of the mind, in which, I confess, we have set 
them the example. They are modest, temperate, and chari- 
table; naturally sprightly, sensible, and good-humoured; and 
by the helps of a more elevated education, would possess all 
the accomplishments desirable in the sex. Our schools are 
in the lowest order; the instructors want instruction, and 
through a long shameful neglect of all the Arts and Sciences, 
our common speech is extremely corrupt, and the evidences 
of a bad taste, both as to thought and language, are visible 
in all our proceedings, public and private. 

The people, both in town and country, are sober, indus- 
trious, and hospitable, though intent upon gain. The richer 
sort keep very plentiful tables, abounding with great varieties 
of flesh, fish, fowl, and all kinds of vegetables. The common 
drinks are beer, cider, weak punch, and Madeira wine. For 
dessert, we have fruits in vast plenty, of different kinds and 
various species. . . . 

The inhabitants of this colony are in general healthy and 
robust, taller but shorter lived than Europeans, and, both 
with respect to their minds and bodies, arrive sooner to an 
age of maturity. Breathing a serene, dry air, they are more 
sprightly in their natural tempers than the people of England, 
and hence instances of suicide are here very uncommon. 
The history of our diseases belongs to a profession with which 
I am very little acquainted. Few physicians amongst us 
are eminent for their skill. Quacks abound like locusts in 
Egypt, and too many have recommended themselves to a 
full practice and profitable subsistence. This is the less to 
be wondered at, as the profession is under no kind of regula- 
tion. Loud as the call is, to our shame be it remembered, we 
have no law to protect the lives of the King's subjects, from 
the malpractice of pretenders. Any man at his pleasure sets 
up for physician, apothecary, and chirurgeon. No candidates 
are either examined or licensed, or even sworn to fair prac- 
tice. . . . 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 113 

Our merchants are compared to a hive of bees, who in- Activity of 
dustriously gather honey for others — " Non vobis mellificatis '^'■^<^®''^- 
Apes." The profits of our trade centre chiefly in Great 
Britain, and for that reason, methinks, among others, we ought 
always to receive the generous aid and protection of our 
Mother Country. In our traffic with other places, the bal- 
ance is almost constantly in our favour. Our exports to the 
West-Indies are bread, peas, rye-meal, Indian corn, apples, 
onions, boards, staves, horses, sheep, butter, cheese, pickled 
oysters, beef, and pork. Flour is also a main article, of which 
there is shipped about 80,000 barrels per annum. To pre- 
serve the credit of this important branch of our staple, we 
have a good law, appointing officers to inspect and brand 
every cask before its exportation. The returns are chiefly 
rum, sugar, and molasses, except cash from Curacoa, and 
when mules from the Spanish Main, are ordered to Jamaica, 
and the Windward Islands, which are generally exchanged 
for their natural produce, for we receive but little cash from 
our own islands. The balance against them would be much 
more in our favour, if the indulgence to our sugar colonies, 
did not enable them to sell their produce at a higher rate 
than either the Dutch or French islands. 

The Spaniards commonly contract for provisions, with 
merchants in this and the colony of Pennsylvania, very much 
to the advantage both of the contractors and the public, 
because the returns are wholly in cash. Our wheat, flour, 
Indian corn, and lumber shipped to Lisbon and Madeira, 
balance the Madeira wine imported here. 

The Logwood trade to the Bay of Honduras is very con- 
siderable, and was pushed by our merchants with great 
boldness in the most dangerous times. The exportation of 
flax seed to Ireland is of late very much increased. Between 
the 9th of December 1755, and the 23d of February following, 
we shipped off 12,528 hogsheads. In return for this article, 
linens are imported and bills of exchange drawn, in favour of 
England, to pay for the dry goods we purchase there. Our 
logwood is remitted to the English merchants for the same 
purpose. 



114 



Readings in American History 



Trade 

with 

England. 



Contra- 
band 
trade. 



The fur trade, though very much impaired by the French 
wiles and encroachments, ought not to be passed over in 
silence. The building of Oswego has conduced, more than 
anything else, to the preservation of this trade. Peltry of 
all kinds is purchased with rum, ammunition, blankets, 
strouds, and wampum, or conque-shell bugles. The French 
fur trade at Albany, was carried on till the summer 1755, by 
the Caghnuaga proselytes; and in return for their peltry, 
they received Spanish pieces of eight, and some other articles 
which the French want to complete their assortment of Indian 
goods. For the savages prefer the tlnglish strouds to theirs, 
and the French found it their interest to purchase them of us, 
and transport them to the western Indians on the Lakes Erie, 
Huron, and at the strait of Michilimakinac. 

Our importation of dry goods from England is so vastly 
great, that we are obliged to betake oursehxs to all possible 
arts, to make remittances to the British merchants. It is 
for this purpose we import cotton from St. Thomas's and 
Surinam, lime-juice and Nicaragua wood from Curacoa; and 
logwood from the Bay, etc. and yet it drains us of all the 
silver and gold we can collect. It is computed, that the 
annual amount of the goods purchased by this colony in 
Great Britain, is in value not less than 100,000 £ sterling; and 
the sum would be much greater if a stop was put to all clan- 
destine trade. England is, doubtless, entitled to all our super- 
fluities; because our general interests are closely connected, 
and her navy is our principal defence. On this account, the 
trade with Hamburg and Holland for duck, chequered linen, 
oznalrigs, cordage, and tea, is certainly, upon the whole, im- 
politic and unreasonable; how muchsoever it may conduce 
to advance the interest of a few merchants, or this particular 
colony. 

By what measures this contraband trade may be effectually 
obstructed is hard to determine, though it well deserves the 
attention of a British Parliament. Increasing the number 
of custom-house officers, will be a remedy worse than the 
disease. Their salaries would be an additional charge upon 



Kinds of 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 115 

the public; for if we argue from their conduct, we ought not 
to presume upon their fidehty. The exclusive right of the 
East-India Company to import tea, while the colonies pur- 
chase it of foreigners 30 per cent cheaper, must be very preju- 
dicial to the Nation. Our people, both in town and country, 
are shamefully gone into the habit of tea-drinking; and it is 
supposed we consume of this commodity in value near 
10,000 £ sterling per annum. . . . 

The money used in this province is silver, gold, British 
halfpence, and bills of credit. To counterfeit either of them moneys 
is felony without benefit of clergy; but none except the 
latter, and Lyon dollars are a legal tender. Twelve halfpence, 
till lately, passed for a shilling; which being much beyond 
their value in any of the neighboring colonies, the Assembly, 
in 1753, resolved to proceed, at their next meeting, after the 
1st of May ensuing, to the consideration of a method for 
ascertaining their value. A set of gentlemen, in number 
seventy-two, took the advantage of the discredit that re- 
solve put upon copper halfpence, and on the 22nd of Decem- 
ber, subscribed a paper, engaging not to receive or pass them, 
except at the rate of fourteen coppers to a shilling. This 
gave rise to a mob, for a few days, among the lower class of 
people, but some of them being imprisoned, the scheme was 
carried into execution; and established in every part of the 
province, without the aid of a law. Our paper bills, which 
are issued to serve the exigencies of the government, were at 
first equal to an ounce of silver, then valued at eight shillings. 
Before the late Spanish War, silver and gold were in great 
demand to make remittances for European goods, and then 
the bills sunk, an ounce of silver being worth nine shillings 
and three pence. During the war, the credit of our bills was 
well supported, partly by the number of prizes taken by our 
privateers, and the high price of our produce abroad; and 
partly by the logwood trade and the depreciation of the New- 
England paper money, which gave ours a free circulation 
through the Eastern colonies. Since the war, silver has been 
valued at about nine shillings and two pence an ounce, and 



116 



Readings in American History 



Governors 



is doubtless fixed there, till our imports exceed what we ex- 
port. To assist his Majesty for removing the late encroach- 
ments of the French, we have issued 80,000 £ to he sunk in 
short periods, by a tax on estates real and personal ; and the 
whole amount of our paper currency is thought to be about 
160,000 £. ... 

No colony, upon the Continent, has formerly suffered more 
than ours, in the opinion of the King's ministers. This has 
Assembly, been owing to the ill impressions made by our governors, w^ho 
are scarce ever disengaged from disputes with the Lower 
House. Our representatives, agreeable to the general sense 
of their constituents, are tenacious in their opinion, that the 
inhabitants of this colony are entitled to all the privileges of 
Englishmen; that they have a right to participate in the 
legislative power, and that the session of Assemblies here, is 
wisely substituted instead of a representation in Parliament, 
wdiich, all things considered, would, at this remote distance, 
be extremely inconvenient and dangerous. The governors, 
on the other hand, in general, entertain political sentiments 
of a quite different nature. All the immunities we enjoy, 
according to them, not only flow from, but absolutely depend 
upon, the mere grace and will of the Crown. It is easy to 
conceive, that contentions must naturally attend such a con- 
tradiction of sentiments. Most of our disputes however re- 
late to the support of government. . . . 



26. Philadelphia and New York, 1748 

(Peter Kalm, Travels into North America. Translated by John 
Reinhold Forster. I, 31-35 passim.) 



Phila- 
delphia. 



Philadelphia, the capital of Pennsylvania, a province 
which makes part of what formerly was called New Sweden 
is one of the principal towns in North-America; and next to 
Boston the greatest. . . . 

The streets are regular, fine and most of them are fifty 
foot, English measure, broad ; Arch-street measures sixty six 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 117 

feet in breadth, and market street or the principal street 
where the market is kept, nearly a hundred. . . . All the 
streets except two which are nearest to the river, run in a 
straight line, and make right angles at the intersections. 
Some are paved, others are not; and it seems less necessary 
since the ground is sandy, and therefore soon absorbs the 
wet. But in most of the streets is a pavement of flags, a 
fathom or more broad, laid before the houses, and posts put 
on the outside three or four fathom asunder. Under the 
roofs are gutters which are carefully connected with pipes, 
and by this means those who walk under them, when it rains 
or when the snow melts, need not fear being wetted by the 
dropping from the roofs. 

The houses make a good appearance, are frequently several 
stories high, and built either of bricks or of stone; but the 
former are more commonly used, since bricks are made before 
the town, and are well burnt. . . . 

On one side of this building [Town Hall] stands the Li- Public 
brari/, which was first begun in the year 1742, on a publick ^'•'''^'■y* 
spirited plan, formed and put in execution by the learned 
Mr. Franklin. For he persuaded first the most substantial 
people in town to pay forty shillings at the outset, and after- 
wards ten shillings annually, all in Pensylvania currency, 
towards purchasing all kinds of useful books. The subscribers 
are entitled to make use of the books. Other people are like- 
wise at liberty to borrow them for a certain time, but must 
leave a pledge and pay eight-pence a week for a folio volume, 
six-pence for a quarto, and four-pence for all others of a 
smaller size. As soon as the time allowed a person for the 
perusal of the volume is elapsed, it must be returned or he is 
fined. The money arising in this manner is employed for the 
salary of the librarian and for purchasing new books. There 
was already a fine collection of excellent works, most of them 
English; many French and Latin, but few in any other lan- 
guage. The subscribers were so kind to me, as to order the 
librarian, during my stay here, to lend me every book, which 
I should want without requiring any payment from me. The 



118 



Readings in American History 



Markets. 



German 
immigra- 
tion. 



Nmnerous 
nationali- 
ties. 



library was open every Saturday from four to eight-o-clock 
in the afternoon. Besides the books, several mathematical 
physical curiosities were to be seen in it. Several little li- 
braries were founded in the town on the same footing or 
nearly with this. . . . 

The town has two great fairs every year; one in May, and 
the other in November, both on the sixteenth day of those 
two months. But besides these fairs, there are every week 
two market days, viz. Wednesday and Saturday. On those 
days the country people in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 
bring to town a quantity of victuals, and other productions 
of the country, and this is a great advantage to the town. It 
is therefore to be wished that the like regulation might be 
made in our Swedish towns. You are sure to meet with 
every produce of the season, which the country affords, on 
the market days. But on other days, they are in vain 
sought for. 

Provisions are always to be got fresh here, and for that 
reason most of the inhabitants never buy more at a time, than 
what will be sufficient till the next market-day. In summer 
there is a market almost every day; for the victuals do not 
keep well in the great heat. There are two places in the town 
where these markets are kept; but that near the Court-house 
is the principal. It begins about four or five o'clock in the 
morning, and ends about nine o'clock in the forenoon. . . . 

In the summer of the year 1749, near twelve thousand 
Germans came over to Philadelphia, many of whom staid in 
that town. In the same year the houses in Philadelphia 
were counted, and found to be two thousand and seventy-six 
in number. 

The town is now quite filled with inhabitants, which in re- 
gard to their country, religion and trade, are very different 
from each other. You meet with excellent masters in all 
trades, and many things are made here full as well as in 
England. Yet no manufactures, especially for making fine 
cloth are established. 

Perhaps the reason is, that it can be got with so little diffi- 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 119 

culty from England, and that the breed of sheep which is 
brought over, degenerates in process of time, and affords but 
a coarse wool. . . . 

It has not been necessary to force people to come and 
settle here; on the contrary, foreigners of different languages, 
have left their country, houses, property and relations, and 
ventured over wide and stormy seas, in order to come hither. 
Other countries which have been peopled for a long space of 
time, complain of the small number of their inhabitants. 
But Pennsylvania which was no better than a desert in the 
year 1681, and hardly contained five hundred people, now 
vies with several Kingdoms in Europe, in number of inhabit- 
ants. It has received numbers of people which other coun- 
tries to their infinite loss, have either neglected or expelled. 

New York probably carries on a more extensive commerce, New York 
than any town in the English North American provinces; ^erciai™' 
at least it may be said to equal them ; Boston and Philadelphia centre, 
however come very nearly up to it. The trade of New York 
extends to many places, and it is said they send more ships 
from thence to London, than they do from Philadelphia. 
They export to that Capital all the various sorts of skins 
which they buy of the Indians, sugar, logwood, and other 
dying woods, rum, mahogany, and many other goods, which 
are the produce of the West Indies; together with all the 
specie which they get in the course of trade. Every year here 
they build several ships, which are sent to London, and there 
sold; and of late years they have shipped a quantity of iron 
to England. In return for these, they import from London 
stuff and every other article of English growth or manufac- 
ture, together with all sorts of foreign goods. England, and 
especially London, profits immensely by its trade with the 
American colonies; for not only New York, but likewise all 
the other English towns on the continent, import so many 
articles from England, that all their specie, together with the 
goods which they get in other countries, must altogether go 
to Old England, in order to pay the amount, to which they 
are however, insufficient. From hence it appears how much 



120 Readings in American History 

a well regulated colony contributes to the increase and wel- 
fare of its Mother country. . . . 
Irrigation. November the 13th. I saw in several parts of this province 
a ready method of getting plenty of grass to grow in the 
meadows. Here must be remembered what 1 have before 
mentioned about the springs which are sometimes found on 
the sides of the hills, and sometimes in the vallies. The 
meadows lie commonly in the vallies between the hills; if 
they are too swampy and wet, the water is carried off by 
several ditches. But the summer in Pennsylvania is very hot; 
and the sun often burns the grass so much, that it dries up 
entirely. 

The husbandmen therefore have been very attentive to 
prevent this in their meadows: to that purpose they look for 
all the springs in the neighborhood of a meadow; and as the 
rivulets flowed before by the shortest way into the vallies, 
they raise the water as much as possible and necessary, to 
the higher part of the meadow, and make several narrow 
channels from the brook, down into the plain, so that it is 
entirely watered by it. Where there are some deeper places, 
they frequently lay wooden gutters across them, through 
which the water flows to the other side; and from thence it 
is again by very narrow channels carried to all the places 
where it seems necessary. To raise the water the higher, and 
in order to spread it more, there are high dykes built near 
the springs, between which the water rises till it is so high as to 
run down where the people want it. Industry and ingenuity 
went further: when a brook runs in a wood, with a direction 
not towards the meadow, and it has been found by levelling, 
and taking an exact survey of the land between the meadow 
and the rivulet, that the latter can be conducted towards the 
former; a dyke is made, which hems the course of the brook, 
and the water is led round the meadow over many hills, 
sometimes for the space of an English mile and further, 
partly across vallies in wooden pipes, till at last it is brought 
where it is wanted, and where it can be spread as above- 
mentioned. One that has not seen it himself, cannot believe 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 121 

how great a quantity of grass there is in such meadows, 
especially near the little channels; whilst others, which have 
not been thus managed look wretchedly. The meadows 
commonly lie in the vallies, and one or more of their sides 
have a declivity. The water can therefore easily be brought 
to run down in them. These meadows which are so carefully 
watered, are commonly mowed three times every summer. 
But it is likewise to be observed, that summer continues 
here seven months. The inhabitants seldom fail to employ 
a brook or spring, in this manner, if it is not too far from the 
meadows to be led to them. . . . 

27. Economic Conditions in Virginia, Pennsylvania, 
AND Rhode Island, 1759 

(Andrew Burnaby, Travels Through the Middle Settlements in 
North America in the Years 1759-60. London, 1775, pp. 11-17, 
20-23 passim.) 

Viewed and considered as a settlement, \'irginia is far from Virginia 
being arrived at that perfection of which it is capable. Not ^ure*^ 
a tenth of the land is yet cultivated: and that which is cul- 
tivated, is far from being so in the most advantageous man- 
ner. It produces, however, considerable quantities of grain 
and cattle, and fruit of many kinds. The Virginia pork is 
said to be superior in flavour to any in the world; but the 
sheep and horned cattle being small and lean, the meat of 
them is inferior to that of Great Britain, or indeed, of most 
parts of Europe. The horses are fleet and beautiful; and 
the gentlemen of Virginia, who are exceedingly fond of horse- 
racing, having spared no expence or trouble to improve the 
breed of them by exporting great numbers from England. . . . 

The trade of this colony is large and extensive. Tobacco Virginia 
is the principal article of it. Of this they export annually be- ^^5°"^^- 
tween fifty and sixty thousand hogsheads, each hogshead 
weighing eight hundred or a thousand weight: some years 
they export much more. They ship also for the Madeiras, 
the Streights, and the West Indies, several articles such as 



122 



Readings in American History 



Virginia 
manufac- 
tures. 



Religion in 
Virginia. 



Independ- 
ent .spirit 
of the 
Virginians. 



grain, pork, lumber, and cyder: to Great Britain, bar-iron, 
indigo, and a small quantity of ginseng, though of an inferior 
quality; and they clear out one year with another about 
45,179 ton of shipping. 

Their manufactures are very inconsiderable. They make 
a kind of cotton-cloth, with which they clothe themselves in 
common, and call after the name of their countr}^; and some 
inconsiderable quantities of linen, hose, and other trifling ar- 
ticles: but nothing to deserve attention. . . . 

The established religion is that of the church of England; 
and there are very few Dissenters of any denomination in 
this province. There are at present between sixty and sev- 
enty clergymen; men in general of sober and exemplary 
lives. They have each a glebe of two or three hundred acres 
of land, a house, and a salary established by law of 16,000 
weight of tobacco, with an allowance of 1700 more for shrink- 
age. This is delivered to them in hogsheads ready packed 
for exportation, at the most convenient warehouse. . . . 

The public or political character of the Virginians, corre- 
sponds with their private one: they are haughty and jealous 
of their liberties, impatient of restraint, and can scarcely 
bear the thought of being controuled by any superior power. 
Many of them consider the colonies as independent states, 
not connected with Great Britain, otherwise than by having 
the same common king, or being bound to her by natural 
affection. There are but few of them that have a turn for 
business, and even those are by no means expert at it. . . . 
they think it a hardship not to have an unlimited trade to 
every part of the world. They consider the duties upon their 
staple as injurious only to themselves; and it is utterly impos- 
sible to persuade them that they affect the consumer also. 
However, to do them justice, the same spirit of generosity 
prevails here which does in their private character: they never 
refuse any necessary supplies for the support of government 
when called upon, and are a generous and loyal people. 

... Or as to the Ohio, they have suffered themselves, 
notwithstanding the superior advantages they might enjoy 



English Colonies in the Eighteenth Century 123 



from having a water carriage almost to the Youghiogheny 
to neglect this valuable branch of commerce; while the 
industrious Pennsylvanians seize every opportunity, or strug- 
gle with innumerable difficulties, to secure it to themselves. 
The Virginians are content if they can but live from day 
to day; they confine themselves almost entirely to the cul- 
tivation of tobacco; and if they have but enough of this 
to pay their merchants in London, and to provide for their 
pleasures, they are satisfied, and desire nothing more. Some 
few, indeed, have been rather more enterprising and have 
endeavoured to improve their estates by raising indigo, and 
other schemes : but whether it has been owing to the climate, 
to their inexperience in these matters, or their want of perse- 
verance, I am unable to determine, but their success has not 
answered their expectations. . . . 

The trade of Pennsylvania is surprisingly extensive, car- 
ried on to Great Britain, the West Indies, every part of North 
America, the Madeiras, Lisbon, Cadiz, Holland, Africa, the 
Spanish Main, and several other places ; exclusive of what is 
illicitly carried on to Cape Francois, and Monte-Christo. 
Their exports are provisions of all kinds, lumber, hemp, flax, 
flax-seed, iron, furrs, and deer-skins. Their imports, Eng- 
lish manufactures, with the superfluities and luxuries of life. 
By their flag of truce-trade, they also get sugar, which they 
refine and send to Europe. 

Their manufactures are very considerable. The German- 
town thread-stockings are in high estimation; and the year 
before last, I have been creditably informed, there were 
manufactured in that town alone about 60,000 dozen pair. 
Their common retail price is a dollar per pair. 

The Irish settlers make very good linens; some woollens 
have also been fabricated, but not I believe to any amount. 
There are several other manufactures, viz. of beaver hats, 
which are superior in goodness to any in Europe, of cordage, 
linseed oil, starch, myrtle-wax, and spermaceti candles, soap, 
earthern ware, and other commodities. . . . 

The province of Rhode Island is divided into counties and 



Contest 
for the 
control of 
the Ohio. 



Pennsyl- 
vania com- 
merce. 



Manufac- 
tures of 
Pennsyl- 
vania. 



124 



Rcadiiif/s i)i American Ilistonj 



Local gov- 
ernment 
in Rhode 
Island. 



Com- 
merce of 
Rhode 
Islaad. 



Colonial 
jealousy. 



townships; of the former there are four or five, but they are 
exceedingly small; of the latter between twenty and thirty; 
the towns themselves are inconsiderable villages: however 
they send members to the assembly, in the whole about 
seventy. The number of inhabitants, with negroes, and 
Indians, of which in this province there are several hundreds, 
amounts to 35,000. As the province affords but few com- 
modities for exportation; horses, provisions, and an incon- 
siderable quantity of grain, with spermaceti candles, being 
the chief articles; they are obliged to Connecticut and the 
neighbouring colonies, for most of their traffic; and by their 
means they carry on an extensive trade. Their mode of 
commerce is this; they trade to Great Britain, Holland, Africa, 
the West Indies, and the neighboring colonies; from each of 
which places they import the following articles; from Great 
Britain, dry goods; from Holland, money; from Africa, 
slaves; from the West Indies, sugars, coffee, and molasses; 
and from the neighbouring colonies, lumber and provisions: 
and with what they purchase in one place they make their 
returns in another. Thus with the money they get in Hol- 
land, they pay their merchants in London; the sugars they 
procure in the West Indies, they carry to Holland; the slaves 
they fetch from Africa they send to the West Indies, together 
with lumber and pro\'isions, which they get from the neigh- 
bouring colonies: the rum that they distil they export to 
Africa; and with the dry goods, which they purchase in 
London, they traffick in the neighbouring colonies. By this 
kind of circular commerce they subsist and grow rich. 

. . . For fire and water are not more heterogeneous than 
the different colonies in North America. Nothing can exceed 
the jealousy and emulation, which they possess in regard to 
each other. The inhabitants of Penns^\'lvania and New York 
have an inexhaustible source of animosity, in their jealousy 
for the trade of the Jerseys. Massachusetts-Bay and Rhode 
Island, are not less interested in that of Connecticut. The 
West Indies are a common subject of emulation to them all. 
Even the limits and boundaries of each colony, are a constant 



English CoJonies in the Eighfecnih Century 125 

source of litigation. — In short, such is the difference of char- 
acter, of manners, of reHgion, of interest, of the different 
colonies, that I think if I am not wholly ignorant of the 
human mind, were they left to themselves, there would even 
be a civil war, from one end of the colony to the other; while 
the Indians and negroes would, with better reason, impa- 
tiently watch the opportunity of exterminating them all 
together. 



CHAPTER X 



CAUSES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION 



28. Effect of British Commercial Regulations, 1765 



The colo- 
nists not 
engaged in 
manufac- 
turing. 



America a 
market for 
British 
manufac- 
tures. 



American 
produc- 
tions. 



John Dickinson was one of the conservative leaders during the 
early days of the Revolution. In the following selection, which 
appeared in the form of a "letter from a gentleman in Philadelphia, 
to his friend in London," he portrays the effects of British commercial 
regulations on American development. — (John Dickinson, Political 
Writings, I, 47-90. The Late Regulations Respecting the British 
Colonies on the Continent of America. Philadelphia, 1765.) 

The American continental colonies are inhabited by per- 
sons of small fortunes, who are so closely employed in sub- 
duing a wild country, for their subsistence, and who would 
labor under such difficulties in contending with old and 
populous countries, which must exceed them in workmanship 
and cheapness, that they have not time nor any temptation 
to apply themselves to manufactures. 

Hence arises the importance of the colonies to Great- 
Britain. Her prosperity depends on her commerce; her 
commerce on her manufactures ; her manufactures on the mar- 
kets for them; and the most constant and advantageous mar- 
kets are afforded by the colonies, as in all others the rest of 
Europe interferes with her, and various accidents may in- 
terrupt them. The benefit from hence is at present immense; 
but in future times when America shall be more fully peopled, 
must exceed with prudent management the warmest wishes 
of a British patriot. 

Our chief productions are provisions, naval stores, furs, 
iron and lumber. A few colonies yield tobacco and indigo. 

126 



trade with 
other 



strictions 
on trade. 



Causes of the American Revolution 127 

Some of these commodities are necessary to Great Britain; 
but all that she requires are vastly insufficient to pay for her 
manufactures which we want. The productions of some of 
the southern colonies may perhaps be equal to their demands, 
but the case is widely different with the northern; for in 
these, the importations from Great Britain are computed to 
be generally more than double the value of their immediate 
exportations to that kingdom. 

The only expedient left us for making our remittances, is Colonial 
to carry on some other trade, whereby we can obtain silver 
and gold, which our own country does not afford. Hence it nations 
is evident, that if our taking off and paying for her manufac- 
tures to Great Britain, the channels by which we acquire 
money for that purpose, ought to be industriously kept open 
and uninterrupted. 

Our trade with Spain, Portugal and the foreign plantations British re- 
in the West Indies have chiefly answered this end; though 
with much difficulty, the mother country having long since 
drawn the commercial cords with which the colonies are 
bound, extremely tight upon them. Everything produced 
here, that Great Britain chooses to take to herself, must be 
carried to that kingdom only — everything we choose to im- 
port from Europe must be shipped in Great Britain — heavy 
duties have been laid on our importations from the foreign 
plantations. 

However, under all these restraints and some others that 
have been imposed on us, we have not till lately been unhappy. 
Our spirits were not depressed: — we apprehended no design 
formed against our liberty. We for a long time enjoyed peace, 
and were quite free from any heavy debt, either internal or 
external. We had a paper currency which served as a medium 
of domestic commerce, and permitted us to employ all the 
gold and silver we could acquire, in trade abroad. We had a 
multitude of markets for our provisions, lumber and iron. — 
These allowed liberties, with some others we assumed, en- 
abled us to collect considerable sums of money for the joint 
benefit of ourselves and our mother country. 



128 



Readiiujs in American History 



Trade in 
iron with 
Great 
Britain 
alone. 



But the modern regulations are in every circumstance 
afflicting. The remittances we have been able to make to 
Great Britain, with all the license hitherto granted or taken, 
and all the money brought among us in the course of the late 
war, have not been sufficient to pay her what we owe; but 
there still remains due, according to a late calculation made 
by the English merchants, the sum of four millions sterling. 
Besides this, we are and have been for many years heavily 
taxed, for the payment of the debts contracted by our efforts 
against the common enemy. These seem to be difficulties 
severe enough for young colonies to contend with. The last 
sinks our paper currency very fast. — The former sweeps off 
our silver and gold in a torrent to Great Britain, and leaves 
us continually toiling to supply from a number of distant 
springs the continually wasting stream. 

Thus drained, we are prohibited by new and stricter re- 
straints being laid on our trade, from procuring these coins 
as we used to do: and from instituting among ourselves bills 
of credit in the place of such portions of them as are required 
in our internal traffic; and in this exhausted condition, our 
languishing country is to strive to take up and to totter 
under the additional burthen of the Stamp Act. . . . 

The restriction also with regard to our iron, is thought par- 
ticularly severe. Whenever we can get a better price in 
Great Britain, than elsewhere, it is unnecessary; whenever 
we can get a better price in other places, it is prejudicial. 
Cargoes composed of this metal, provisions and lumber, have 
been found to answer very well at the Portugese and some 
other markets; and as the last articles are frequently very 
low, and our foreign trade is reduced to so few commodities, 
the taking away any one of them must be hurtful to us. 
Indeed, to require us to send all our iron to Great Britain, is, 
in the opinion of some of our judicious merchants, to re- 
quire an impossibility ; for as this article is so heavy, and such 
small quantities can be sent in one vessel, they assert, that 
we cannot find freight directly home for one half of it. 

But it is unnecessary to endeavour to prove by reasoning 



Causes of the American Revolution 12'J 

on these things, that we shall suffer, for we already suffer. Decline of 
Trade is decaying; and all credit is expiring. Money is be- colonial 
come so extremely scarce, that reputable freeholders find it 
impossible to pay debts which are trifling in comparison to 
their estates. If creditors sue, and take out executions, the 
lands and personal estate, as the sale must be for read}' 
money, are sold for a small part of what they were worth 
when the debts were contracted. The debtors are ruined. 
The creditors get but part of their debts, and that ruins them. 
Thus the consumers break the shopkeepers; they break the 
merchants; and the shock must be felt as far as London. 
Fortunate, indeed, is the man who can get satisfaction in 
money for any part of his debt, in some counties ; for in many 
instances, after lands and goods have been repeatedly adver- 
tised in the public gazettes, or exposed to sale, not a buyer 
appears. 

By these means multitudes are ruined, and the estates of increase of 
others are melting away in the same manner. It must strike ^^'^'^o''^- 
anyone with great surprise and concern, to hear of the number 
of debtors discharged every court by our insolvent act. If 
it be considered, that this law extends only to those who do 
not owe any single debt above ^150, that many are daily re- 
leased by the lenity of their creditors, and that many more re- 
move, without their knowledge, it will not be difficult to form 
a judgment of the condition to which the people are reduced. 

If these effects are produced already, what can we expect Effect of 
when the same causes shall have operated longer? What can ^^^^ stamp 
we expect when the exhausted colonies shall feel the Stamp 
Act drawing oft', as it were, the last drops of their blood? 
From whence is the silver to come with which the taxes im- 
posed by this act, and the duties imposed by other late acts, 
are to be paid? Or how will our merchants and the lower 
ranks of people, on whom the force of these regulations will 
fall first, and with the greatest violence, bear this additional 
load? . . . 

Yet still their resentment is but the resentment of dutiful 
children, who have received unmerited blows from a beloved 



130 



Readings in American History 



parent. Their obedience to Great-Britain is secured by the 
best and strongest ties, those of affection; which alone can, 
and I hope will form an everlasting union between her and 
her colonies. May no successes or suspicions ever tempt her 
to deviate from the natural generosity of her spirit — and may 
no dreadful revolution of sentiments ever teach them to fear 
her victories, or to repine at her glories. 

I am C. C. 



Exports to 
America 
by London 
merchants. 



Imports 
from the 
American 
colonies. 



29. Parliamentary Petitions against the Stamp Act, 
January 17, 1766 

Notwithstanding the Stamp Act passed the House of Commons 
with the vote of 205 to 49 and the House of Lords without "debate, 
division, or protest," opposition developed among the people of Eng- 
land which together with the protests from America led to its repeal. 
— (T. C. Hansard, The Parliamentary History of England, XVI, 
133-136; 1765-71.) 

A Petition of the merchants of London, trading to North 
America, was presented to the House, and read; setting 
forth: "That the petitioners have been long concerned in 
carrying on the trade between this country and the British 
colonies on the continent of North America; and that they 
have annually exported very large quantities of British manu- 
factures, consisting of woollen goods of all kinds, cottons, 
linens, hardware, shoes, household furniture, and almost 
without exception of every other species of goods manufac- 
tured in these kingdoms, besides other articles imported from 
abroad, chiefly purchased with our manufactures and with 
the produce of our colonies; by all which, many thousand 
manufacturers, seamen and labourers, have been employed, 
to the very great and increasing benefit of this nation; and 
that, in return for these exports, the petitioners have received 
from the colonies, rice, indigo, tobacco, naval stores, oil, 
whale fins, furs, and lately pot-ash, with other commodities, 
besides remittances by bills of exchange and bullion, obtained 
by the colonists in payment for articles of their produce, not 



I 



Causes of the American Revolution 



131 



required for the British market, and therefore exported to 
other places ; and that from the nature of this trade, consist- 
ing of British manufactures exported, and of the import of 
raw materials from America, many of them used in our manu- 
factures, and all of them tending to lessen our dependence on 
neighbouring states, it must be deemed of the highest im- 
portance in the commercial system of this nation; and that 
this commerce, so beneficial to the state, and so necessary for 
the support of multitudes, now lies under such difficulties 
and discouragements, that nothing less than its utter ruin is 
apprehended, without the immediate interposition of parlia- 
ment; and that, in consequence of the trade between the 
colonies and the mother country, as established and as per- 
mitted for many years, and of the experience which the peti- 
tioners have had of the readiness of the Americans to make 
their just remittances to the utmost of their real ability, they 
have been induced to make and venture such large exporta- 
tions of British manufactures, as to leave the colonies in- 
debted to the merchants of Great Britain in the sum of sev- 
eral millions sterling; and that at this time the colonists, 
when pressed for payment, appeal to past experience in proof 
of their willingness; but declare it is not in their power, at 
present, to make good their engagements, alledging, that the 
taxes and restrictions laid upon them, and the extension of 
the jurisdiction of vice admiralty courts established by some 
late acts of parliament, particularly by an act passed in the 
fourth year of his present majesty, for granting certain duties 
in the British colonies and plantations in America, and by 
an act passed in the fifth year of his present majesty, for 
granting and applying certain stamp duties, and other duties, 
in the British Colonies and plantations in America, with sev- 
eral regulations and restraints, which, if founded in acts of 
parliament for defined purposes, are represented to have been 
extended in such a manner as to disturb legal commerce and 
harass the fair trader, have so far interrupted the usual and 
former most fruitful branches of their commerce, restrained 
the sale of their produce, thrown the state of the several prov- 



Favorable 
balance of 
trade for 
Great 
Britain. 



Disturb- 
ance of 
trade due 
to Stamp 
Act. 



132 



Readings in American History 



Effect on 
British 
manufac- 
tures. 



Other 
petitions. 



inces into confusion, and brought on so great a number of 
actual bankruptcies, that the former opportunities and means 
of remittances and payments are utterly lost and taken from 
them; and that the petitioners are, by these unhappy events, 
reduced to the necessity of applying to the House, in order to 
secure themselves and their families from impending ruin; 
to prevent a multitude of manufacturers from becoming a 
burthen to the community, or else seeking their bread in 
other countries, to the irretrievable loss of this kingdom; and 
to preserve the strength of this nation entire, its commerce 
flourishing, the revenues increasing, our navigation, the bul- 
wark of the kingdom, in a state of growth and extension, and 
the colonies, from inclination, duty, and interest, firmly at- 
tached to the mother country; and therefore praying the 
consideration of the premises, and entreating such relief, as 
to the House shall seem expedient. 

The petition was referred to the Committee of the whole 
House, as were also the following petitions, viz. of the master, 
wardens, and commonalty of the society of merchants ven- 
turers of the city of Bristol, under their common seal; of the 
merchants, tradesmen and manufacturers of the same city; 
of the merchants of Liverpool, trading to and from America 
and the coast of Africa; of the merchants, tradesmen and 
manufacturers of the town and parish of Halifax; of the 
merchants and inhal)itants of the borough of Leeds, trading 
to the several colonies of North America, and of the manu- 
facturers of broad woollen cloth, and sundry other assort- 
ments of woollen goods, manufactured for supplying the 
North America markets; of the merchants of Lancaster trad- 
ing to and from North America; of the merchants, manu- 
facturers, and traders of the town of Manchester, and neigh- 
borhood thereof, of the manufacturers of the town and count}' 
of Leicester; and of the clothiers and manufacturers of super- 
fine broad cloth, in the town of Bradford in Wiltshire; all 
complaining of a great decay in the trade to the North Ameri- 
can colonies, owing to the late obstructions and embarrass- 
ments laid thereon, and praying relief. 



Causes of the American Revolution 133 

And afterwards there were presented to the House and 
read, and referred to the same Committee, the following 
petitions, viz. of the principal inhabitants of the town of 
Frome; of the merchants, factors, and manufacturers of Bir- 
mingham; of the mayor, bailiffs, and commonalty, of the 
city of Coventry, and the principal tradesmen and manu- 
facturers of silk ribbands and worsted goods, in and near 
the said city, whose common seal and names are thereunto 
respectively affixed, in behalf of themselves and others con- 
cerned in the same manufactures ... all containing much 
the same complaint as in the former petitions, and conclud- 
ing with the same prayer. 

30. Benjamin Franklin and the Repeal of the Stamp 

Act 

While the repeal of the Stamp Act was under discussion in Parlia- 
ment, Benjamin Franklin, with others, was ordered to appear before 
the House of Commons and testify upon the general attitude of 
America toward the act. Franklin was at the time the representa- 
tive of Pennsylvania and some of the other colonies. The queotions 
answered by Franklin were submitted by friends of the colonies, 
members of the special committee, and were intended to draw out 
what Franklin had already expressed on the subject. The examina- 
tion was concluded on February 1.3, 1766, and eleven days later the 
resolution was offered that the Stamp Act should be repealed. — 
(T. C. Hansard, The Parliamentary History of England, XVI, 
138-160, 1765-71, London, 1813.) 

Q. What is your name and place of abode? 

A. Franklin, of Philadelphia. 

Q. Do the Americans pay any considerable taxes among 
themselves? 

A. Certainly, many and very heavy taxes. 

Q. What are the present taxes in Pennsylvania, laid by the 
laws of the colony? 

A. There are taxes on all estates, real and personal, a system of 
poll-tax, a tax on all offices, professions, trades and businesses, ^^^^''*o°- 
according to their profits; an excise on all wine, rum, and 



134 



Readings in American Ilislorij 



Purpose of 
taxes. 



other spirits; and a duty of ten pounds per head on all negroes 
imported, with some other duties. 

Q. For what purposes are those taxes laid? 

A. For the support of the civil and military establish- 
ments of the country, and to discharge the heavy debt con- 
tracted in the last war. 



Colonists 
unable to 
pay stamp 
duties. 



Q. From the thinness of the back settlements, would not 
the Stamp Act be extremely inconvenient to the inhabitants, 
if executed? 

A. To be sure it would ; as many of the inhabitants could 
not get stamps when they had occasion for them without 
taking long journeys, and spending perhaps three or four 
pounds, that the crown might get sixpence. 

Q. Are not the colonies, from their circumstances, very 
able to pay the stamp duty? 

.1. In my opinion there is not gold and silver enough in 
the colonies to pay the stamp duty for one year. 

Q. Don't you know that the money arising from the 
stamps was all to be laid out in America? 

A. I know it is appropriated by the act to the American 
service; but it will be spent in the conquered colonres, where 
the soldiers are, not in the colonies that pay it. 

Q. Is there not a balance of trade due from the colonies 
where the troops are posted, that will bring back the money 
to the old colonies? 

A. I think not. I believe very little would come back. 
I know of no trade likely to bring it back. I think it would 
come from the colonies where it was spent directly to England ; 
for I have always observed, that in every colony the more 
plenty the means of remittance to England, the more goods 
are sent for, and the more trade with England carried on. 



Popula- 
tion of 
colonies. 



Q. How many white men do you suppose there are in 
North America? 

A. About 300,000, from 16 to 60 years of age. 



Causes of the American Revohdion 135 

Q. Have you heard of any difficulties lately laid on the 
Spanish trade? 

A. Yes, I have heard, that it has been greatly obstructed 
by some new regulations, and by the English men of war and 
cutters stationed all along the coast of America. 

Q. Do you think it right that America should be protected 
by this country and pay no part of the expence? 

A. That is not the case. The colonies raised, cloathed Americans 
and payed, during the last war, near 25,000 men, and spent defence, 
many millions. 

Q. Were you not reimbursed by parliament? 

A. We were only reimbursed what, in your opinion, we 
had advanced beyond our proportion, or beyond what might 
reasonably be expected from us ; and it was a very small part 
of what we spent. Pennsylvania, in particular, disbursed 
about 500,000 £, and the reimbursements, in the whole, did 
not exceed 60,000 £. 

Q. You have said that you pay heavy taxes in Pennsyl- 
vania; what do they amount to in the pound? 

A. The tax on all estates, real and personal, is eighteen 
pence in the pound, fully rated; and the tax on the profits of 
trades and professions, with other taxes, do, I suppose, make 
full half a crown in the pound. 

Q. Do you think the people of America would submit to 
pay the stamp duty, if it were moderated? 

A. No, never, unless compelled by force of arms. 

Q. What was the temper of America towards Great Britain 
before the year 1763? 

A. The best in the world. They submitted willingly to Condi- 
the government of the Crown, and paid, in all their courts, before 
obedience to acts of parliament. Numerous as the people 1763. 
are in the several provinces, they cost you nothing in forts, 
citadels, garrisons, or armies, to keep them in subjection. 
They were governed by this country at the expence only 
of a little pen, ink and paper. They were lead by a thread. 



136 



Readings in American IH.^ton/ 



Condi- 
tions, 1775. 



They liad not only a respect, hut an anVction for Great 
Britain; for its laws, its customs and manners, and even a 
fondness for its fasliions, that greatly increased the com- 
merce. Natives of Britain were always treated with a par- 
ticular regard; to he an Old-England man was, of itself, a 
character of some respect, and gave a kind of rank among us. 

Q. And what is their temper now? 

A. O, very much altered. 

Q. Did you ever hear the authority of parliament to 
make laws for America questioned till lately? 

A. The authority of parliament was allowed to be valid 
in all laws, except such as should lay internal taxes. It was 
never disputed in laying duties to regulate commerce. 



Attitude 
of colo- 
nists 
toward 
Parlia- 
ment 



Q. In what light did the people of America use to con- 
sider the parliament of Great-Britain? 

A. They considered the parliament as the great bulwark 
and security of their liljerties and privileges, and always 
spoke of it with the utmost respect and veneration. Arbi- 
trary ministers, they thought, might, possibly, at times, at- 
tempt to oppress them; but they relied on it, that the par- 
liament, on application, would always give redress; They 
remembered, with gratitude, a strong instance of this, when 
a bill was brought into parliament, with a clause, to make 
royal instructions laws in the colonies, which the House of 
Commons would not pass, and it was thrown out. 

Q. And have they not still the same respect for parlia- 
ment? 

A. No it is greatly lessened. * 

Q. To what causes is that owing? 

A. To a concurrence of causes; the restraints lately laid 
on their trade, by which the bringing of foreign gold and 
silver into the colonies was prevented ; the prohibition of mak- 
ing paper money among themselves; and then demanding 
a new and heavy tax by stamps; taking away, at the same 
time, trials by juries, and refusing to receive and hear their 
humble petitions. 



Act. 



Causes of the American Revolution 137 

Q. Don't you think they would submit to the stamp-act, Attitude 

if it was modified, the obnoxious parts taken out, and the ni^ined 

duty reduced to some particulars of small amount? stamp 

A. No; they will never submit to it. 

Q. If the stamp act should be repealed, would it induce 
the assemblies of America to acknowledge the rights of par- 
liament to tax them, and would they erase their resolutions? 

A. No, never. 

Q. Are there no means of obliging them to erase those 
resolutions? 

.1. None that I know of; they will never do it, unless 
compelled by force of arms. 

Q. Is there no power on earth that can force them to erase 
them? 

A. No power, how great soever, can force men to change 
their opinions. 

Q. Would it be most for the interest of Great Britain, to 
employ the hands of Virginia in tobacco, or in manufactures? 

A. In tobacco, to be sure. 

Q. What used to be the pride of Americans? 

A. To indulge in the fashions and manufactures of Great 
Britain. 

Q. What is now their pride? 

A. To wear their old cloaths over again, till they can 
make new ones. — Withdrew. 

31. Description of the First Continental Congress, 

1774 

The letters written by John Adams to Mrs. Abigail Adams, his 
wife, give a good account of the difficulties encountered in organiz- 
ing the First Continental Congress. Mrs. Adams in reply gave excel- 
lent descriptions of affairs in and about Boston. — (Charles Francis 
Adams, Familiar Letters of John Adams and His Wife, Abigail 
Adams, During the Revolution, 31 passim. With permission of 
Charles Francis Adams. Hurd and Houghton. New York, 1876.) 



138 



Readings in American History 



John 
Adams in 
attendance 
upon the 
First 

Continen- 
tal 
Congress. 



Duties in 
Congress. 



Broad- 
minded 
men as 
delegates. 



rhiladelphia 8 Sept. 1774. 

When or where this letter will find you I know not. In 
what scenes of distress or terror I cannot forsee. 

We have received a confused account from Boston of a 
dreadful catastrophe. The particulars we have not heard. 
W^e are waiting with the utmost anxiety and impatience for 
further intelligence. The effect of the news we have, both 
upon Congress and the inhabitants of this city, was very 
great. Great indeed! Every gentleman seems to consider 
the bombardment of Boston as the bombardment of the Cap- 
ital of his own province. Our deliberations are grave and 
serious indeed. 

It is a great affliction to me that I cannot write to you 
oftener than I do. But there are so many hindrances that 
I cannot. 

It would fill volumes to give you an idea of the scenes I 
behold, and the characters I converse with. We have so 
much business, so much ceremony, so much company, so 
many visits to receive and return, that I have not time to 
write. And the times are such as to make it imprudent to 
write freely. 

We cannot depart from this place until the business of the 
Congress is completed, and it is the general disposition to 
proceed slowly. When I shall be at home I can't say. If 
there is distress and danger in Boston, pray invite our friends, 
as many as possible, to make an asylum with you, — Mrs. 
Cushing and Mrs. Adams, if you can. 

There is in the Congress a collection of the greatest men 
upon this continent in point of abilities, virtues, and fortunes. 
The magnanimity and public spirit which I see here make 
me blush for the sordid, venal herd which I have seen in my 
own province. The addressers, and the new councillors are 
held in universal contempt and abhorrence from one end of 
the continent to the other. 

Be not under any concern for me. There is little danger 
from anything we shall do at the Congress. There is such 
a spirit through the colonies, and the members of the Congress 



Causes of the American Revolution 



139 



are such characters, that no danger can happen to us which 
will not involve the whole continent in universal desolation; 
and in that case who would wish to live? Adieu. 



Philadelphia 14 Sept 1774. 

. . . The Congress will, to all appearances, be well united, 
and in such measures as I hope, will give satisfaction to the 
friends of our country. A Tory here is the most despicable Tories 
animal in creation. Spiders, toads, snakes are their only 
proper emblems. The Massachusetts councillors and ad- 
dressers are held in envious esteem here as you will see. 

The spirit, the firmness the prudence of our province are 
vastly applauded, and we are universally acknowledged the 
saviors and defenders of American liberty. The designs and 
plans of Congress must not be communicated until completed, 
and we shall move with great deliberation. . . . 



Massa- 
chusetts 
delegates. 



opened 

with 

prayer. 



Philadelphia, 16 Sept. 1774. 

Having a leisure moment while Congress is assembling, I 
gladly embrace it to write you a line. 

When the Congress first met, Mr. Cushing made a motion congress 
that it should be opened with prayer. It was opposed by 
Mr. Jay, of New York, and Mr. Rutledge, of South Carolina, 
because we were so divided in religious sentiments, some 
Episcopalians, some Quakers, some Anabaptists, some Pres- 
byterians, and some Congregationalists, that we could not 
join in the same act of worship. Mr. Samuel Adams arose 
and said he was no bigot, and could hear a prayer from a 
gentlema)! of piety and virtue, who was at the same time a 
friend to his country. He was a stranger in Philadelphia, 
but had heard that Mr. Duche (Dushay they pronounce it) 
deserved that character, and therefore he moved that Mr. 
Duche, an Episcopal clergyman, might be desired to read 
prayers to the Congress, to-morrow morning. The motion 
was seconded and passed in the affirmative. Mr. Randolph, 
our president, waited on Mr. Duche, and received for answer 
if his health would permit he certainly would. 



140 



Readings in American History 



Accordingly, next morning he appeared with his clerk and 
his pontificals, and read several prayers in the established 
form ; and then read the Collect for the seventh day of Sep- 
tember, which was the thirty-fifth Psalm. You must re- 
member that this was the next morning after we heard the 
horrible rumor of the cannonade of Boston. I never saw a 
greater effect upon an audience. It seemed as if Heaven 
had ordained that Psalm to be read on that morning. 

After this, Mr. Duche, unexpected to everybody, struck 
out into an extemporary prayer, Avhich filled the bosom of 
every man present. I must confess I never heard a better 
prayer, or one so well pronounced. . . . 



Business 
of Con- 
gress 
greatly 
delayed. 



Philadelphia, 25 September, 1774. 

I would not lose the opportunity of writing to you, though 
I must be short. Tedious indeed is our business — slow as 
snails. I have not been used to such ways. We sit only 
before dinner. We dine at four o'clock. We are crowded 
with a levee in the evening. 

Fifty gentlemen meeting to-gether, all strangers, are not 
acquainted with each other's language, ideas, views, designs. 
They are, therefore, jealous of each other — fearful, timid, 
skittish. 



Useless 
discus- 
sions. 



9 October, 1 774. 

I am wearied to death with the life I lead. The business 
of Congress is tedious beyond expression. This assembly is 
like no other that ever existed. Every man in it is a great 
man, an orator, a critic, a statesman; and therefore every 
man upon every question must show his oratory, his criticism, 
and his political abilities. 

The consequence of this is that business is drawn and spun 
out to an immesurable length. I believe if it was moved 
and seconded that we should come to a resolution that three 
and two make five, we should be entertained with logic, and 
rhetoric, law, history, politics, and inatliematics, and then — 
we should pass the resolution unanimously in the affirmati\e. 



Causes of the Avierican Revolution 



141 



The perpetual round of feasting, too, which we are obUged 
to submit to, makes the pilgrimage more teiUous to me. . . . 



Philadelphia 17 June 1775. 

I can now inform you that the Congress have made choice 
of the modest and virtuous, the amiable, generous, and brave 
George Washington, Esquire, to be General of the American 
army, and that he is to repair, as soon as possible, to the 
camp before Boston. This appointment will have a great 
effect in cementing and securing the union of these colonies. 

The continent is really in earnest, in defending the country. 
They have voted ten companies of riflemen to be sent from 
Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, to join the army be- 
fore Boston. These are excellent species of light infantry. 
They use a peculiar kind of musket, called a rifle. 

It has a circular groove within the barrel, and carries a 
ball with great exactness to great distances. They are the 
most accurate marksmen in the world. 

I begin to hope we shall not sit all summer. I hope the 
people of our province will treat the General with all that 
confidence and affection that politeness and respect, which is 
due to one of the most important characters in the world. 
The liberties of America depend upon him, in a great de- 
gree. . . . 

I have found this Congress like the last. When we first 
came together, I found a strong jealousy of us from New 
England, and the Massachusetts in particular; suspicions 
entertained of designs of independency; an American repub- 
lic; Presbyterian principles, and twenty other things. Our 
sentiments were heard in Congress with great caution, and 
seemed to make but little impression; but the longer we sat, 
the more clearly they saw the necessity of pushing vigorous 
measures. 

It has been so now. Every day we sit, the more we are 
convinced that the designs against us are hostile and san- 
guinary, and that nothing but fortitude, vigor and persever- 
ance can save us. 



Washing- 
ton chosen 
general of 
the army. 



Riflemen 
from Penn- 
sylvania, 
Maryland, 
and Vir- 
ginia go to 
the assist- 
ance of 
Boston 



.Jealousy 
of Massa- 
chusetts 
delegates. 



142 



Readings in American History 



But America is a great unwieldy body. Its progress must 
be slow. It is like a large fleet sailing under convoy. The 
fleetest sailors must wait for the dullest and slowest. Like a 
coach and six, the swiftest horses must be slackenetl, and the 
slowest quickened, that all may keep an even pace. . . . 



Abigail 
Adams on 
the battle 
of Bunker 
Hill. 



Weymouth, Sunday, 18 June 1775. 

The day — perhaps the decisive day — is come; on which 
the fate of America depends. My bursting heart must find 
vent at my pen. 

I have just heard that our dear friend, Dr. Warren, is no 
more, but fell gloriously fighting for his country; saying, 
Better to die honorably in the field, than ignominiously hang 
upon the gallows. Great is our loss. He has distinguished 
himself in every engagement, by his courage anc^ fortitude, 
by animating the soldiers and leading them on by his own 
example. A particular account of these dreadful, but I hope 
glorious days, will be transmitted to you, no doubt, in the 
exactest manner. 

"The race is not to the swift nor the battle to the strong; 
but the God of Israel is he that gi\'eth strength and power 
unto his people. Trust in him at all times, ye people, pour 
outyour hearts before him; God is a refuge for us." Charles- 
town is laid in ashes. The battle began upon our intrench- 
ments upon Bunker's Hill, Saturday morning about three 
o'clock, and has not ceased yet, and it is now three o'clock 
Sabbath afternoon. It is expected they will come out over 
the Neck, to-night, and a dreadful battle must ensue. Al- 
mighty God, cover the heads of our coimtrymen, and be a 
shield to our dear friends! How many have fallen we know 
not. The constant roar of the cannon is so distressing that 
we cannot eat, drink, or sleep. May we be supported and 
sustained in the dreadful conflict. I shall tarry here till it is 
thought unsafe by my friends, and then I have secured my- 
self a retreat at your brother's, who has kindly oft'ered me a 
part of his house. I cannot compose myself to write any 
further at present. I will add more as I hear further. . . . 



Causes of the American Revolution 143 

Weymouth, 5 July, 1775. 

I have received a good deal of paper from you. I wish it situation 
had been more covered; the writing is very scant, yet I i° Boston, 
must not grumble. I know your time is not yours nor mine. 
Your labors must be great and your mouth closed; but all 
you may communicate, I beg you would. There is a pleas- 
ure, I know not whence it arises, nor can I stop now to find 
it out, but I say there is a degree of pleasure in being able 
to tell news, especially any that so nearly concerns us, as 
all your proceedings do. 

I should have been more particular, but I thought you 
knew everything that passed here. The present state of the 
inhabitants of Boston is that of the most abject slaves, under 
the most cruel and despotic of tyrants. 

Among many instances I could mention, let me mention 
one. Upon the 17th of July, printed hand bills were posted 
up at the corners of the streets, and upon houses, forbidding 
any inhabitants to go up on their houses, or upon any emi- 
nence, on pain of death; the inhabitants dared not look out 
of their houses, nor to be heard or seen to ask a question. 

Our prisoners were brought over to the Long Wharf, and 
there lay all night, without any care of their wounds, or any 
resting place but the pavements, until next day, when they 
exchanged it for the jail, since which we hear they are civilly 
treated. Their living cannot be good, as they can have no 
fresh provisions; their beef, we hear, is all gone, and their 
wounded men die very fast, so that they have a report that 
their bullets were poisoned. Fish they cannot have, they 
have rendered it so difficult to procure; and the admiral is 
such a villain as to oblige every fishing schooner to pay a 
dollar every time it goes out. The money that has been paid 
for passes is incredible. 

Some have given ten, twenty, thirty, and forty dollars, to 
get out with a small proportion of their things. It is reported 
and believed that they have taken up a number of persons, 
and committed them to jail, we know not for what in par- 
ticular. Master Lovell is confined in the dungeon; a son of 



144 Readings in American History 

Mr. Edes is in jail, and one Wiburt, a ship-carpenter, is now 
upon trial for his life. God alone knows to what length these 
wretches will go, and will, I hope restrain their malice. 

I would not have you be distressed about me. Danger, 
they say, makes people valiant. Hitherto I have been dis- 
tressed but not dismayed. I have felt for my country and 
her sons. I have bled with them and for them. Not all the 
havoc and devastation they have made has wounded me like 
the death of Warren. We want him in the Senate; we want 
him in his profession; we want him in the field. We mourn 
for the citizen, the senator, the physician, and the warrior. 
May we have others raised up in his room. . . . 



CHAPTER XI 
THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR, 1776-1783 

32. Effects of" a Weak Central Government, 1778 

Alexander Hamilton in the following letter to George Clinton 
shows the influence of the weak central government in the conduct 
of the affairs of the Revolution. Hamilton was at the time serving 
as a member of Washington's staff. — (Jared Sparks, Writings of 
Washington, V, 508, 509.) 

Head-Quarters, 13 February 1778. — Dear Sir; There is Decline in 
a matter, which often obtrudes itself upon my mind, and ^^'^'t-v of 

. . f J ' ^ represent- 

which requires the attention of every person of sense and in- atives in 
fluence among us; I mean a degeneracy of representation in o^^ress. 
the great council of America. It is a melancholy truth, Sir, 
the effects of which we daily see and feel, that there is not so 
much wisdom in a certain body as there ought to be, and as 
the success of our affairs absolutely demands. Many mem- 
bers of it are no doubt men, in every respect, fit for the 
trust; but this can not be said of it as a body. Folly, ca- 
price, a want of forsight, comprehension and dignity, char- 
acterize the general tenor of their actions. Of this, I dare 
say, you are sensible, though you have not perhaps so many 
opportunities of knowing it as I have. Their conduct, with Effect on 
respect to the army especially, is feeble, indecisive, and im- ^^^^ ai^my. 
provident; insomuch that we are reduced to a more terrible 
situation than you can conceive. False and contracted views 
of economy have prevented them, though repeatedly urged 
to it, from making that provision for officers which was req- 
uisite to interest them in the service. This has produced 
such carelessness and indifference to the ser\ice, as is sub- 

145 



146 



Readings in American History 



Where are 
the former 
leaders? 



State serv- 
ice more 
attractive. 



versive to every officer-like quality. They have disgusted 
the army by repeated instances of the most whimsical favor- 
itism in their promotions; and by an absurd prodigality of 
rank to foreigners, and to the meanest staff of the army. 
They have not been able to summon resolution enough to 
withstand the impudent importunity and vain boasting of 
foreign pretenders; but have manifested such a ductility and 
inconstancy in their proceedings, as will warrant the charge 
of suffering themselves to be bullied by every petty adven- 
turer, who comes armed with ostentatious pretentions of mili- 
tary merit and experience. AYould you believe it. Sir? it is 
become almost proverbial in the mouths of the French of- 
ficers and other foreigners, that they have nothing more to 
do, to obtain whatever they please, than to assume a high 
tone, and assert their owm merit with confidence and per- 
severance. These things wound my feelings as a republican 
more than I can express, and in some degree make me con- 
temptible in my own eyes. 

America once had a representation, that would do honor to 
any age or nation. The present falling off is very alarming 
and dangerous. What is the cause? and How is it to be 
remedied? are questions that the welfare of these States re- 
quires should be well attended to. The great men, who com- 
posed our first council, — are they dead, have they deserted 
the cause, or what has become of them? Very few are dead, 
and still fewer have deserted the cause; they are all, except 
the few who still remain in Congress, either in the field or 
in the civil offices of their respective States; far the greater 
part are engaged in the latter. The only remedy then is to 
take them out of these employments, and return them to the 
place where their presence is infinitely more important. 

Each State, in order to promote its own internal govern- 
ment and prosperity, has selected its best members to fill the 
offices within itself, and conduct its own affairs. Men have 
been fonder of the emoluments and conveniences of being 
employed at home; and local attachment, falsely operating, 
has made them more provident for the particular interests 



The Revolutionary U^ar 147 

of the States to which they belonged, than for the common 
interests of the confederacy. This is a most pernicious mis- 
take, and must be corrected. However important it is to A strong 
give form and efficiency to your interior constitutions and go°grn. 
pohce ; it is infinitely more important to have a wise general ment de- 
council ; otherwise a failure of the measures of the Union will 
overturn all your labors for the advancement of your particu- 
lar good, and ruin the common cause. You should not beggar 
the councils of the United States to enrich the administra- 
tion of the several members. Realize to yourself the conse- 
quences of having a Congress despised at home and abroad. 
How can the common force be exerted, if the power of col- 
lecting it be put in weak, foolish, and unsteady hands? How 
can we hope for success in our European negotiations, if the 
nations of Europe have no confidence in the wisdom and 
vigor of the great Continental government? This is the 
object on which their eyes are fixed; hence it is, America 
will derive its importance or insignificance in their estima- 
tion. 

You and I had some conversation, when I had the pleasure Faction 
of seeing you last, with respect to the existence of a certain wasWng- 
faction. Since I saw you, I have discovered such convincing ton. 
traits of the monster, that I cannot doubt its reality in the 
most extensive sense. I dare say you have seen and heard 
enough to settle the matter in your own mind. I believe it 
unmasked its batteries too soon, and begins to hide its head; 
but, as I imagine it will only change the storm to a sap, all 
the true and sensible friends of their country, and of course 
to a certain great man, ought to be upon the watch, to 
counterplot the secret machinations of his enemies. I am, 
with great regard and respect, &c. 



148 



Readings in American Hifitori/ 



American 
foreign 
ministers 
without 
knowledge 
of condi- 
tions at 
home. 



Attitude 
of Ver- 
gennes. 



Frencli 
secret rela- 
tions with 
America. 



33. American Diplomacy and French Assistance 
During the Revolution 

The followiiij? selection illustrates to what extent the French Gov- 
ernment was willing to grant secret aid to America prior to the con- 
summation of the treaty of February, 1778. 

Benjamin Franklin and 8ila.s Deane to the Committee of Secret 
Correspondence. — (Wharton, Diplomatic Correspondence of the 
American Revolution, II, 283-290.) 

Paris, March 12, 1777. 

Gentlemen: It is now more than four months since Mr. 
Franklin's departure from Philadelphia, and not a line from 
thence written since that time has hitherto reached either of 
your commissioners in Europe. 

We have had no information of what passes in America 
but through England, and the advices are, for the most 
part, such only as the ministry choose to publish. Our total 
ignorance of the truth or falsehood of facts, when questions 
are asked of us concerning them, makes us appear small in 
the eyes of the people here, and is prejudicial to our negotia- 
tions. ... 

In our first conversation with the minister, after the ar- 
rival of Mr. Franklin, it was e\ident that this court, while it 
treated us privately with all civility, was cautious of giving 
umbrage to England, and was therefore desirous of avoiding 
an open reception or acknowledgment of us, or entering into 
any formal negotiation with us as ministers from Congress. 
To make us easy, however, we were told that the ports of 
France were open to our ships as friends; that our people 
might freely purchase and export, as merchandise, whatever 
our states had occasion for, vending at the same time our 
own commodities; that in doing this we should experience 
all the facilities that a Government disposed to favor us 
could, consistent with treaties, afford to the enemies of a 
friend. But though it was at that time no secret that two 
hundred field-pieces of brass and thirty thousand fusils, with 
other munitions of war in great abundance, had been taken 



The Revoluiionary War 



149 



out of the King's magazines for the purpose of exportation 
to America, the minister, in our presence, affected to know 
nothing of that operation, and claimed no merit to his court 
on that account. But he intimated to us that it would be 
well taken if Ave communicated with no other person about 
the court concerning our affairs but himself, who would be 
ready at all convenient times to confer with us. . . . 

Means were proposed of our obtaining a large sum of money 
for present use by an advance from the Farmers-General, to 
be repaid in tobacco, of which they wanted twenty thousand 
hogsheads. We entered accordingly into a treaty with that 
company, which meeting with difficulty in settling the terms, 
we were informed that a grant was made us of two millions 
of livres from the Crown, of which five hundred thousand 
was ready to be paid us down, and an equal sum should be 
paid at the beginning of April, July and October; that such 
was the King's generosity, he exacted no conditions or prom- 
ises of repayment; he only reciuired that we should not speak 
to any one of our having received this aid. We have accord- 
ing observed strictly this injunction, deviating only in this 
information to you, which we think necessary for your satis- 
faction, but earnestly requesting that you would not suffer it 
to be made public. This is the money which, in our letter, 
we mentioned as raised for us by subscription. . . . 

The desire that military officers here, of all ranks, have of 
going into the service of the United States is so general and 
so strong as to be quite amazing. We are hourly fatigued 
with their applications and offers which we are obliged to re- 
fuse, and with hundreds of letters, which we cannot possibly 
answer to satisfaction, having had no orders to engage any 
but engineers, who are accordingly gone. If the Congress 
thinks fit to encourage some of distinguished merit to enter 
their service they will please to signify it. . . . 

We have purchased eighty thousand fusils, a number of 
pistols etc., of which the enclosed is an account, for two hun- 
dred and twenty thousand livres. They were King's arms 
and second-hand but so many of them are unused and un- 



Aid from 
the King 
of France. 



French of- 
ficers and 
American 
service. 



150 



Readings in American History 



Influence 
of the Ar- 
ticles of 
Confeder- 
ation in 
Europe. 



American 
ministers 
to otiier 
courts. 



exceptionally good, that we esteem it a large bargain if only 
half of them should arrive. We applied for the large brass 
cannon, to be borrowed out of the king's stores till we could 
replace them, but have not yet obtained an answer. You 
will soon have the arms and accoutrements for the horses 
except the saddles, if not intercepted by the enemy. 

All Europe is for us. Our articles of confederation being 
by our means translated and published here, have given an 
appearance of consistence and firmness to the American 
States and Government that begins to make them consid- 
erable. The separate constitutions of the several States are 
also translating and publishing here, which afford abundance 
of speculation to the politicians of Europe, and it is a very 
general opinion that if we succeed in establishing our liber- 
ties, we shall, as soon as peace is restored, receive an immense 
addition of numbers and wealth from Europe, by the families 
who will come over to participate in our privileges, and bring 
their estates with them. Tyranny is so generally established 
in the rest of the world, that the prospect of an asylum in 
America for those who love liberty, gives general joy, and 
our cause is esteemed the cause of mankind. Slaves natu- 
rally become base, as well as wretched. We are fighting for 
the dignity and happiness of human nature. Glorious is it 
for the Americans to be called by Providence to this post of 
honor. Cursed and detested will everyone be that deserts 
or betrays it. 

We are glad to learn the intention of Congress to send 
ministers to the empires of Prussia and Tuscany. With 
submission, we think Holland, Denmark, Sweden and Rus- 
sia (if the expense is no objection), should not be neglected. 
It would be of great service if among them we could get a 
free port or two for the sale of prizes, as well as for com- 
merce. A commencement of intercourse has been made with 
Prussia as you will see by the enclosed copies of letters, be- 
tween his minister and us. 

We suppose, as the Congress has appointed one of us to 
Spain, they will order another of us to some of the other 



The Revolutionary War 151 

courts, as we see no utility equal to the charge, and yet some 
inconveniency, in a joint commission here, where one, when 
freed from commercial cares and action is sufficient for the 
business. As soon as the court of Spain shall be willing to 
receive a minister (which, from Mr. Lee's information, seems 
not to be at present the case), Mr. Franklin intends to go 
thither in obedience to the orders he has received. Mr. Lee 
has expressed his readiness to go to Prussia or Tuscany, be- 
fore the intention of Congress to send to those courts was 
known; and he waits here a while, by the advice of his col- 
leagues, expecting that perhaps the next ship may bring his 
future destination . . . 

For news, we refer in general to the papers, and to some Foreign 
letters inclosed, which we have received from London. We q^^*^ 
shall only add, that though the English begin again to Britain, 
threaten us with twenty thousand Russians, it is the opinion 
of the wisest here and particularly among the foreign min- 
isters that they will never be sent. The Anspachers who 
were to be embarked in Holland, mutinied, and refused to 
proceed, so that the prince was obliged to go with his guards 
and force them on. A gentleman of Rotterdam writes us 
that he saw a number of them brought, bound hands and 
feet, in boats to that place. This does not seem as if much 
service can be expected from such unwilling soldiers. The 
British fleet is not yet half manned; the difficulty in that 
respect was never before found so great, and it is ascribed 
to several causes, viz, a dislike to war, the subtraction of 
American sailors, the number our privateers have taken out 
of British ships, and the enormous transport service. . . . 

We transmit you some affidavits, relating to the treatment 
of our prisoners, with a copy of our letter to Lord Stormont 
communicating them, and his insolent answer. We request 
you to present our duty to the Congress, and assure them of 
our most faithful services. 

With great respect we have the honor to be, etc 

B. Franklin. 
Silas Deane. 



152 Readings in American History 



34. The Capture of Vincennes by George Rogers 
Clark, 1779 

At the outbreak of the Revokition George Rogers Clark was more 
famihar than any other man of the time with conditions west of the 
Alleghany Mountains. From the year 1772 he had been engaged in 
surveying lands on the Ohio and assisting in the establishment of 
the first Kentucky settlements. He had investigatefl also the 
strength of the British forces in the Illinois country and Vincennes. 
His i)lan to capture Kaskaskia and the other posts proved acceptable 
to Governor Patrick Henry, of Virginia, and in May, 1778, C'olonel 
Clark, with his force of one hundred and fifty men, set out in boats 
down the Ohio River. June 24 they left the falls of the Ohio and 
descended the river to the mouth of the Tennessee, where they se- 
creted their boats. A march of four days brought tlifm to Kaskas- 
kia on the evening of July 4. The village, having a population of five 
hundred whites and nearly as many slaves, and the fort, with its small 
garrison, were surprised during the night and captured. After the 
taking possession of Cahokia by Joseph Bowman, Clark took up 
the problems of treating with the Indian tribes and making plans 
for the capture of Vincennes and Detroit. The account of the 
march to Vincennes and the capture of that post is taken from the 
journal of Major Joseph Bowman, who accompanied the expedition 
and was one of Clark's most trusted lieutenants. — (Bowman, Journal 
of The Proceedings of Colonel George R. Clark, from 27th January, 
1779, to March 20th, inst. J. A. James, George Rogers Clark 
Papers, 111. Hist. Society Collections, Vol. Ill, 500 et seq.) 

M. Vigo, a Spanish subject, who has been at Post St. 
Vincent on his lawful business, arrived and gave us intelH- 
gence that Gov. Hamilton, with thirty regulars and fifty 
vohinteers and about 400 Indians, had arrived in November 
and taken that Post with Capt. Hehn and such other Ameri- 
cans who were there with arms, . . . [two or three words 
illegible] . . . and disarmed the settlers and inhabitants. 

17th [February]. Marched early — crossed several runs, 
very deep. Sent Mr. Kennedy, our commissary, with three 
men, to cross the river Embarras, if possibel, and proceed to 
a plantation opposite Post St. Vincent, in order to steal boats 
or canoes to ferrv us across the Wabash. About an hour 



The Revolutionary War 153 

by sun we got near the river Embarras. Found the country 
all overflown with water. We strove to find the Wabash. 
Traveled till 8 o'clock in mud and water, but could find no 
place to camp on. Still kept marching on. But after some 
time Mr. Kennedy and his party returned. Found it im- 
possible to cross Embarras river. W'e found the water fall- 
ing from a small spot of ground; staid there the remainder 
of the night. Drizzly and dark weather. 

18th. At break of day heard Gov. Hamilton's morning 
gun. Set off and marched down the river. Saw some fine 
land. About two o'clock came to the bank of the Wabash; 
made rafts for four men to cross and go up to town and 
steal boats. But they spent day and night in the water to 
no purpose, for there was not one foot of dry land to be 
found. 

19th. Capt. McCarty's company set to making a canoe; 
and at 3 o'clock the four men returned after spending the 
night on some old logs in the water. The canoe finished, 
Capt. McCarty with three of his men embarked in the canoe 
and made the third attempt to steal boats. But he soon 
returned, having discovered four large fires about a league 
distant from our camp, which seemed to him to be fires of 
whites and Indians. Immediately Col. Clark sent two men 
in the canoe, down to meet the batteau, with orders to come 
on day and night ; that being our last hope, and (we) starv- 
ing. Many of the men much cast down, particularly the 
volunteers. No provisions of any sort, now two days. 
Hard fortune! . . . 

21st. At break of day began to ferry our men over in our 
two canoes to a small hill called the Momib or Bubbriss. 
Capt. Williams, with two men, went to look for a passage 
and were discovered by two men in a canoe, but could not 
fetch them to. The whole army being over, we thought to 
get to town that night, so plunged into the water sometimes 
to the neck, for more than one league, when we stoppeil on 
the next hill of the same name, there being no dry land on 
any side for many leagues. Our pilots say we cannot get 



154 Readings in American History 

along, that it is impossible. The whole army being over we 
encamped. Rain all this day — no provisions. 

22d. Col. Clark encourages his men, which gave them 
great spirits. Marched on in the waters. Those that were 
weak and famished from so much fatigue, went in the canoes. 
We came one league farther to some sugar camps, where we 
stayed all night. Heard the evening and morning guns from 
the fort. No provisions yet. Lord help us! 

23d. Set off to cross the plain called Horse-shoe Plain, 
about four miles long, all covered with water breast high. 
Here we expected some of our brave men must certainly 
perish, having froze in the night, and so long fasting. Hav- 
ing no other resource but wading this plain, or rather lake, of 
waters, we plunged into it with courage. Col. Clark, being 
first, taking care to have the boats try to take those that 
were weak and numbed with the cold into them. Never 
were men so animated with the thought of avenging the 
wrongs done to their back settlements, as this small army was. 

About one o'clock we came in sight of the town. We 
halted on a small hill of dry land called Warren's [Warrior's] 
Island, where we took a prisoner hunting ducks, who in- 
formed us that no person suspected our coming at that season 
of the year. Col. Clark wrote a letter by him to the inhabit- 
ants, in the following manner: 

To THE Inhabitants of Post St. Vincents: 

Gentlemen: — Being now within two miles of your village 
with my army, determined to take your fort this night, and 
not being willing to surprise you, I take this method to re- 
quest such of you as are true citizens, and willing to enjoy 
the liberty I bring you, to remain still in your houses. And 
those, if any there be, that are friends to the King, will in- 
stantly repair to the fort and join the Hair-buyer General, 
and fight like men. And if any such, as do not go to the 
Fort shall be disco\'ered afterwards, they may depend on 
severe punishment. On the contrary, those that are true 
friends to liberty, may depend on being well treated. And 



The Revolutionary JVar 155 

I once more request them to keep out of the streets; for 
every one I find in arms on my arrival, I shall treat as an 
enemy. 

(Signed) G. R. Clark. 

In order to give time to publish this letter, we lay still till 
about sundown, when we began our march all in order, with 
colours flying and drums braced. After wading to the edge 
of the water breast high, we mounted the rising ground the 
town is built on about 8 o'clock. Lieut. Bayley, with four- 
teen regulars, was detached to fire on the Fort, while we 
took possession of the town, and ordered to stay till he was 
relieved by another party, which was soon done. Recon- 
noitered about to find a place to throw up an entrenchment. 
Found one, and set Capt. Bowman's company to work. 
Soon crossed the main street, about one hundred and twenty 
yards from the first gate. We were informed that Capt. 
Lamath [Lamothe], with a party of twenty-five men, were 
out on a scout, who heard our firing and came back. We 
sent a party to intercept them, but missed them. However 
we took one of their men, and one Capt. Maison Ville, a 
principal man; the rest making their escape under the cover 
of the night into the fort. The cannon played smartly. Not 
one of our men wounded. Men in the Fort badly wounded. 
Fine sport for the sons of Liberty. 

24th. As soon as daylight, the Fort began to play her 
small arms very briskly. One of our men got slightly 
wounded. About 9 o'clock the Colonel sent a flag with a 
letter to Governor Hamilton. The firing then ceased, during 
which time our men were provided with a breakfast, it being 
the only meal of victuals since the 18th inst. 

Col. Clark's Letter as follows: 

Sir : — In order to save yourself from the impending storm 
that now threatens you, I order you immediately to surrender 
yourself, with all your garrison, stores, &;c., &c., &c. For if 
I am obliged to storm, you may depend on such treatment 



156 Readings in American History 

as is justly due a murderer. Beware of destroying stores of 
any kind, or any papers, or letters, that are in your posses- 
sion; for, by Heavens, if you do, there shall be no mercy 
shown you. 

(Signed) G. R. Clark. 

Answer from Gov. Hamilton: 

Governor Hamilton begs leave to acquaint Col. Clark, 
that he and his garrison are not disposed to be awed into an 
action unworthy of British subjects. 

Terms of Capitulation. 

1. That Lieut. Col. Hamilton engages to deliver up to 
Col. Clark, Fort Sackville, as it is at present, with all the 
stores, &c., &c. 

2. The garrison are to deliver themselves as prisoners of 
war, and march out with their arms and accoutrements, 
&c., &c. 

3. The garrison to be delivered up at 10 o'clock to-morrow. 

4. Three days' time to be allowed the garrison to settle 
their accounts with the inhabitants and traders of this place. 

5. The officers of the garrison to be allowed the necessary 
baggage, &c., &c. 

Signed at Post St. Vincents, 24th Feb., 1779. 
Agreed to for the following reasons : The remoteness from 
succors; the state and quantity of provisions, &c. ; ima- 
nimity of officers and men in its expediency; the honorable 
terms allowed; and, lastly, the confidence in a generous 
enemy. 

(Signed) Henry Hamilton, 

Lieut. Gov. and Superintendent. 

35. The Revolution and American Development 

(David Ramsay [of South Carolina], The History of the Ameri- ( 
can Revolution, II, 310, 324 passim. London, 1793.) 

*^pp°^^^^^ Previous to the American revolution, the inhabitants of 

of the Rev- . . , , . n i i rr»i i 

oiution. the British colonies were universally loyal. That three mil- 



The Revolutionary War 157 

lions of such subjects should break through all former attach- 
ments, and unanimously adopt new ones, could not reason- 
ably be expected. The revolution had its enemies, as well 
as its friends, in every period of the war. Country, religion, 
local policy, as well as private views, operated in disposing 
the inhabitants to take different sides. The New-England 
provinces being mostly settled by one sort of people, were 
nearly of one sentiment. The influence of placemen in 
Boston, together with the connections which they had formed 
by marriages, had attached sundry influential characters in 
that capital to the British interests, but these were but as 
the dust in the balance, when compared with the numerous 
independent Whig yeomanry of the country. The same and 
other causes produced a large number in New York, who were 
attached to royal government. That city had long been 
headquarters of the British army in America, and many inter- 
marriages, and other connections, had been made between 
British officers, and some of their first families. The prac- 
tice of entailing estates had prevailed in New York to a much 
greater extent, than in any of the other provinces. The 
governors thereof had long been in the habit of indulging 
their favorites with extravagant grants of land. This had 
introduced the distinction of landlord and tenant. There 
was therefore, in New York, an aristocratic party, respectable 
for numbers, wealth, and influence, which had much to fear 
from independence. The city was also divided into parties 
by the influence of two ancient and numerous families, the 
Livingstones and Delanceys. These having been long ac- 
customed to oppose each other at elections, could rareby^ be 
brought to unite in any political measures. In this contro- 
versy, one almost universally took part with America, the 
other with Great Britain. ... 

Religion also divided the inhabitants of America: the Religious 
Presbyterians and Independents were almost universally and^thT 
attached to the measures of Congress. Their religious soci- Revoiu- 
eties are governed on the repul)lican plan. 

From independence they had much to hope, but from Great 



tion. 



158 Readings in American History 

Britain, if finally successful, they had reason to fear the estab- 
lishment of a church hierarchy. Most of the episcopal min- 
isters of the northern provinces were pensioners on the bounty 
of the British government. The greatest part of their clergy, 
and many of their laity in these provinces, were therefore 
disposed to support a connection with Great Britain. The 
episcopal clergy in the southern provinces being under no 
such bias, were often among the warmest Whigs. Some of 
them foreseeing the downfall of religious establishments from 
the success of the Americans, were less active: but in general, 
where their church was able to support itself, their clergy and 
laity zealously espoused the cause of independence. Great 
pains were taken to persuade them, that those who had been 
called dissenters, were aiming to abolish the episcopal estab- 
lishment to make way for their own exaltation; but the good 
sense of the people restrained them from giving any credit to 
the unfounded suggestion. Religious controversy was hap- 
pily kept out of view, the well-informed of all denominations 
were convinced, that the contest was for their civil rights, 
and therefore did not suffer any other considerations to inter- 
fere, or disturb their union. 

The Quakers, with a few exceptions, were averse to inde- 
pendence. In Pennsylvania they were numerous, and had 
power in their hands. Revolutions in government are rarely 
patronised by any body of men, who foresee that a diminution 
of their own importance, is likely to result from the change. 
Quakers, from religious principles, were averse to war, and 
therefore could not be friendly to a revolution, which could 
only be effected by the sword. Several individuals separated 
from them on account of their principles, and following the 
impulse of their inclinations, joined their countrymen in 
arms. The services America received from two of their so- 
ciety. Generals Greene and Mifflin, made some amends for 
the embarrassments which the disaffection of the great body 
of their people occasioned to the exertions of the active friends 
of independence. 

The age and temperament of individuals had often an in- 



The Revolutionary War 



159 



men were Young 



lution. 



fluence in fixing their political character. Old 

seldom warm Whigs : they could not relish the great changes ™®° ^°^ 

1-1 1-1 1-1 11 • .. *^^ Revo- 

which were daily takmg place; attached to ancient forms 

and habits, they could not readily accommodate themselves 
to new systems. Few of the very rich were active in fore- 
warding the revolution. This was remarkably the case in 
the eastern and middle states; but the reverse took place in 
the southern extreme of the confederacy. There were in no 
part of America more determined Whigs than the opulent 
slaveholders in Virginia, the Carolinas, and Georgia. The 
active and spirited part of the community, which felt them- 
selves possessed of talents that would raise them to eminence 
in a free government, longed for the establishment of inde- 
pendent constitutions; but those who were in possession or 
expectation of royal favor, or of promotion from Great Britain, 
wished that the connection between the Parent State and the 
Colonies might be preserved. The young, the ardent, the 
ambitious, and the enterprising, were mostly Whigs; but the 
phlegmatic, the timid, the interested, and those who wanted 
decision were, in general, favourers of Great Britain, or at 
least only the lukewarm, inactive friends of independence. 
The Whigs received a great reinforcement from the operation 
of continental money. In the year 1775, 1776, and in the 
first months of 1777, while the bills of Congress were in good 
credit, the effects of them were the same, as if a foreign power tion 
had made the United States a present of twenty million of 
silver dollars. The circulation of so large a sum of money, 
and the employment given to great numbers in providing for 
the American army, increased the numbers and invigorated 
the zeal of the friends to the revolution; on the same prin- 
ciples, the American war was patronised in England, by the 
many contractors and agents for transporting and supplying 
the British army. In both cases, the inconveniences of in- 
terrupted commerce were lessened by the employment which 
war and a domestic circulation of money substituted in its 
room. The convulsions of war afforded excellent shelter for 
desperate debtors. The spirit of the times revolted against 



Self-inter- 
est and the 
Revolu- 



160 



Reading f i)i American History 



Influence 
of the Rev- 
olution on 
the people. 



dragging to jails for debt, men who were active and zealous 
in defending their country, and on the other hand, those who 
owed more than they were worth, by going within the British 
lines, and giving themselves the merit of suffering on the 
score of loyalty, not only put their creditors to defiance, but 
sometimes obtained promotion, or other special marks of 
royal favour. 

The American revolution, on the one hand, brought forth 
great vices; but on the other hand, it called forth many vir- 
tues, and gave occasion for the display of abilities which, but 
for that event, would have been lost to the world. When the 
war began, the Americans were a mass of husbandmen, mer- 
chants, mechanics, and fishermen; but the necessities of the 
country gave a spring to the active powers of the inhabitants, 
and set them on thinking, speaking, and acting, in a line far 
beyond that to which they had been accustomed. The 
difference between nations is not so much owing to nature, 
as to education and circumstances. While the Americans 
were guided by the leading strings of the Mother Country, 
they had no scope nor encouragement for exertion. All the 
departments of government were established and executed for 
them, but not by them. In the years 1775 and 1776, the 
country, being suddenly thrown into a situation that needed 
the abilities of all its sons, these generally took their places, 
each according to the bent of his inclination. As they sever- 
ally pursued their objects with ardour, a vast expansion of 
the human mind speedily followed. This displayed itself in 
a variety of ways. ... 

The Americans knew but little of one another, previous to 
the revolution. Trade and business had brought the inhab- 
itants of their sea-ports acquainted with each other, but the 
bulk of the people in the interior country were unacquainted 
with their fellow-citizens. A continental army, and a Con- 
gress composed of men from all the States, by freely mixing 
together, were assimilated into one mass. Individuals of 
both, mingling with the citizens, disseminated principles of 



The Revolutionary War 



161 



union among them. Local prejudices abated. By frequent 
collision, asperities were worn off, and a foundation was laid 
for the establishment of a nation out of discordant materials. 
Intermarriages between men and women of different States 
were much more common than before the war, and became 
an additional cement to the union. Unreasonable jealousies 
had existed between the inhabitants of the eastern and of 
the southern States; but on becoming better acquainted with 
each other, these in a great measure subsided. A wiser policy 
prevailed. Men of liberal minds led the way in discouraging 
local distinctions, and the great body of the people, as soon as 
reason got the better of prejudice, found that their best in- 
terests would be most effectually promoted by such prac- 
tices and sentiments as were favourable to union. Religious 
bigotry had broken in upon the peace of various sects before 
the American war; this was kept up by partial establishments, 
and by a dr^ad that the church of England, through the 
power of the mother country, would be made to triumph 
over all other denominations. These apprehensions were 
done away by the revolution. The different sects, having 
nothing to fear from each other, dismissed all religious contro- 
versy. . . . 

Though schools and colleges were generally shut up during increased 
the war, yet many of the arts and sciences were promoted by knowledge 
it. The geography of the United States before the revolu- country, 
tion was but little known: but the marches of armies, and 
the operations of war, gave birth to many geographical in- 
quiries and discoveries, which otherwise would not have 
been made. A passionate fondness for studies of this kind, 
and the growing importance of the country, excited one of 
its sons, the Rev. Mr. Morfe, to travel through every State 
of the Union, and amass a fund of topographical knowledge, 
far exceeding anything heretofore communicated to the 
public. The necessities of the States led to the study of 
tactics, fortification, gunnery, and a variety of other arts 
connected with war, and diffused a knowledge of them among 



1G2 



Readings in American History 



Develop- 
ment of 
surgery 
and medi- 
cine. 



Growth of 
the science 
of govern- 
ment. 



a peaceable people, who would otherwise have had no in- 
ducement to study them. . . . 

Surgery was one of the arts which was promoted by the 
war. From the want of hospitals and other aids, the medical 
men of America had few opportunities of perfecting them- 
selves in this art, the thorough knowledge of which can only 
be acquired by practice and observation. The melancholy 
events of battles gave the American students an opportunity 
of seeing, and learning more in one day, than they could have 
acquired in years of peace. It was in the hospitals of the 
United States that Dr. Rush first discovered the method of 
curing the lock-jaw by bark and wine added to other invigor- 
ating remedies, which has since been adopted with success in 
Europe, as well as in the United States. 

The science of government has been more generally diffused 
among the Americans by means of the revolution. The 
policy of Great Britain in throwing them out of her protec- 
tion, induced a necessity of establishing independent consti- 
tutions. This led to reading and reasoning on the subject. 
The many errors that were at first committed by unexperi- 
enced statesmen, have been a practical comment on the folly 
of unbalanced constitutions, and injudicious laws. The dis- 
cussions concerning the new constitution gave birth to much 
reasoning on the subject of government and particularly to 
a series of letters signed Publius, but really the work of Alex- 
ander Hamilton, in which much political knowledge and 
wisdom were displayed, and which will long remain a monu- 
ment of the strength and acuteness of the human under- 
standing in investigating truth. 

When Great Britain first began her encroachments on the 
Colonies, there were few natives of America who had dis- 
tinguished themselves as speakers or writers, but the con- 
troversy between the two countries multiplied their num- 
ber. . . . 

On the whole, the literary, political, and military talents of 
the citizens of the United States have been improved by the 



i 



The Revolutionary War 163 

revolution, but their moral character is inferior to what it 
formerly was. So great is the change for the worse, that the 
friends of public order were loudly called upon to exert their 
utmost abilities in extirpating the vicious principles and 
habits which have taken deep root during the late convul- 
sions. . . . 



CHAPTER XII 

THE PERIOD OF THE CONFEDERATION, 1781-1789 

36. Government under the Confederation a I 
Failure ' 

No man of his time was better prepared to discuss the weaknesses 
of the government under the Articles of Confederation than John 
Jay. As president of Congress, minister to Spain, one of the com- 
missioners to negotiate the peace of 1783, and secretary of foreign 
affairs, he had seen how inefficient the national government really 
was. The following letters set forth his views on numerous topics. 
— (John Jay, Correspondence and Public Papers, III, 221-229. Ed- 
ited bv Henry P. Johnston, permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons, New 
York," 1891.)" 



Delay for 
want of a 
quorum in 
Congress. 



Apathy of 

the States. 



JOHN JAY TO JACOB REED 

New York, 12th December, 1786. 
Dear Sir: 

Your friendly letter has long remained unanswered; but a 
variety of private as well as public affairs constrained me to 
postpone indulging myself in the pleasure I always derive 
from writing to my friends. The recess (if I may so call it) 
of Congress gives their officers too much leisure at present; 
and there is reason to fear that the members will be as long 
in convening this year as they were last. Business is at a 
stand for want of an adequate representation. The languor 
of the States is to be lamented; many inconveniences have 
already arisen from it, and if continued, serious evils will 
awaken our people. Our affairs, my dear sir, are in a deli- 
cate situation, and it is much to be wished that the real 
patriots thrtnighout the States would exert themsehes to 

104 



I 



7'he Period of the Confederation 



165 



Disorders 
due to lack 
of public 



render it more safe and respectable. The feuds in Massa- 
chusetts are rather suspended than extinguished. What 
events they may ultimately produce is uncertain; but I 
should not be surprised if much trouble was to result from 
them. The public creditors will soon become importunate, 
and Congress cannot create the means of satisfying them. 
It is true that order usually succeeds confusion; but it is a 
high price to pay for order, especially when a little virtue 
and good sense would procure it for us on very reasonable credit, 
terms. If the best men would be prevailed upon to come 
forward, and take the lead in our legislatures as well as in 
Congress, and would unite their efforts to rescue their country 
from its present condition, our affairs, both at home and 
abroad, would soon wear a more pleasing aspect. It is time 
for our people to distinguish more accurately than they seem 
to do between liberty and licentiousness. The late Revolu- 
tion would lose much of its glory, as well as utility, if our 
conduct should confirm the tory maxim, "That men are in- 
capable of governing themselves." 

With real esteem and regard, I am, dear sir, your most 
obedient and very humble servant, 

John Jay. 



JOHN JAY TO THOMAS JEFFERSON 



Office for Foreign Affairs 

14 December, 1786. 

. . . Our country is fertile, abounding in useful produc- evHs due 

tions, and those productions in demand and bearing a good *" "^^^^ 
. . . . r .. govern- 

price; yet relaxation m government and extravagance in indi- ment. 

viduals creates much public and private distress and much 

public and private want of good faith. 

The public papers will tell you how much reason we have Misman- 

to apprehend an Indian war, and to suspect that Britain ind^n'^af"'^ 

instigates it. In my opinion our Indian affairs have been fairs. 

ill managed. Details would be tedious. Indians have been 

murdered by our people in cold blood, and no satisfaction 



166 



Readings in American History 



Isolated 
settle- 
ments con- 
demned. 



given; nor are they pleased with the avidity with which we 
seek to acquire their land. Would it not be wiser gradually 
to extend our settlements, as want of room should make it 
necessary, than to pitch our tents through the wilderness in a 
great variety of places, far distant from each other, and from 
those advantages of education, civilization, law and govern- 
ment which compact settlements and neighbourhoods afford? 
— and will they not become more formidable to us than the 
tawny ones which now inhabit it? . . . 



JOHN JAY TO WILLIAM CARMICHAEL 



Troubles 
in Massa- 
chusetts. 



General 
govern- 
ment inef- 
ficient. 



New York, 4th January, 1787. 
Dear Sir 

Since the 3d day of November last a sufficient number of 
States to do business have not been represented in Congress, 
and it is doubtful whether some weeks more will not elapse 
before that will be the case. Hence it is that I am obliged 
to be less particular than I should otherwise be on sundry 
subjects. 

The public papers have informed you of commotions in 
Massachusetts. They have not yet subsided although that 
government has manifested great moderation, and conde- 
scended to treat the complaints of the malcontents with 
much respect. What may be the issue of those disturbances, 
or how far they will extend, is as yet far from certain. 

The inefficiency of the Federal Government becomes more 
and more manifest, and how it is to be amended is a question 
that engages the serious attention of the best people in all 
the States. Endeavours are making to form a convention for 
the purpose, but it is not clear that all the States will join in 
that measure. On this and on some other great points the 
public mind is fluctuating though uneasy; perhaps a few 
months more may produce a greater degree of decision. . . . 



The Period of the Confederation 



167 



JOHN JAY TO SAMUEL WASHINGTON 



New York, 7th January, 1787. 
Dear Sir: 

They who regard the public good with more attention and 
attachment than they do mere personal concerns must feel 
and confess the force of such sentiments as are expressed in 
your letter to me by Colonel Humphrey last fall. The situ- 
ation of our affairs calls not only for reflection and prudence, 
but for exertion. What is to be done? is a common question 
not easy to answer. ... 

Shall we have a king? Not in my opinion while other ex- 
periments remain untried. Might we not have a Governor- 
General limited in his prerogatives and duration? Might 
not Congress be divided into an upper and lower house — the 
former appointed for life, the latter annually — and let the 
Governor-General (to preserve the balance), with the advice 
of a council, formed for that only purpose, of the great judi- 
cial officers, have a negative on their acts? Our government 
should in some degree be suited to our manners and circum- 
stances, and they, you know, are not strictly democratical. 
What powers should be granted to the government so con- 
stituted is a question which deserves much thought. I think 
the more the better, the States retaining only so much as 
may be necessary for domestic purposes, and all their prin- 
cipal officers, civil and military, being commissioned and re- 
movable by the national government. These are short hints. 
Details would exceed the limit of a letter, and to you be 
superfluous. 



What 
form of ex- 
ecutive 
should the 
general 
govern- 
ment 
adopt? 



Powers to 
be granted 
the Na- 
tional Gov- 
ernment. 



Would it not be better for Congress plainly and in strong Weakness 
terms to declare that the present Federal Government is gration*^^'^" 
inadequate for the purposes for which it was instituted ; that should be 
they forbear to point out its particular defects or to ask for 
an extension of any particular powers, lest improper jealousies 
should thence arise; but that in their opinion it would be 



108 



Readings in American Ilisfory 



GoTieral 
conven- 
lioii of Iho 
colonies 
should be 
called. 



expedient for the people of the States without dehiy to appoint 
State conventions (in tlie way they choose their jj;eneral as- 
sembUcs), with the sole and express power of appointing 
deputies to a general convention who, or the majority of 
whom should take into consideration the Articles of Confed- 
eration, and make such alterations, amendments, and addi- 
tions thereto as to them should appear necessary- and proper, 
and which being by them ordained and published should have 
the same force and obligation which all or any of the present 
articles now have? 

No alterations in the government should, I think, be made, 
nor if attempted will easily take place, unless deducible from 
the only source of just authority — the People. 

Accept, my dear sir, my warmest and most cordial wishes 
for your health and happiness, and believe me to be with the 
greatest respect and esteem, 

Your most obedient servant 

John Jay. 



Crossing 
the AUe- 
ghanies. 



37. A Picture of Pioneer Life 

Daniel Drake was born near Plainfield, N. J., in 1785. Influ- 
enced by the glowing accounts about Kentucky, his father decided 
to take his family there to make a home. During the year 1788, 
together with four other families, they set out. 

In the letters is described the life connected with the growth of 
an early Western State. The writer was one of the leaders in the 
development of the Middle West. He was the first student of medi- 
cine in Cincinnati, a town of some four hundred inhabitants. He 
was a nominal student of medicine for four years. For three of 
these years a part of his training consisted in distributing medicine.'^ 
which had been prepared in the "doctor's shop." In the year 1806 
he began the practice of medicine in Cincinnati, and for the re- 
mainder of his life was noted as physician, writer, and teacher. — 
(Daniel Drake, Pioneer Life in Kentucky, 8-11, 163-184 passim.) 

The time fixed on for their departure was the latter part 
of the spring of 1788. 

Behold, then, the departure! These five persons, three of 
whom were adults, with all their earthly goods crowded into 



The Period of the Confederation 



169 



one Jersey wagon, to be hauled by two horses over the yet 
steep and rugged Alleghany Mountains, and throughout an 
overland journey of nearly four hundred miles. There were 
but few taverns on the way, and if there had been many, we 
should not have been much the better for them, as father's 
means were too limited to admit of a participation in their 
comforts. He could only purchase necessary food, which 
was cooked when we stopped at night and before we started 
in the morning. As the weather was mild, our lodgings were 
often in the wagon. . . . 

The first and last landing before reaching Limestone was 
at Fort Pitt, now Pittsburg. The danger of being attacked 
by the Indians was too great to justify a landing between 
that point and Limestone. The flotilla I presume consisted 
of se\'eral boats. That which my parents were in met with 
no accident; and on the 10th of June, 1788, just sixty -four 
days after the first settlement of Ohio at Marietta, we landed 
at Limestone, which then consisted of a few cabins only, 
though Washington, four miles off, was something of a vil- 
lage — of log cabins. . . . 

At that time there was a great immigration into the in- Migration 
terior counties of Kentucky, chiefly from the State of Vir- 
ginia. Lexington, settled about the year 1776, had in fact 
become already a considerable town. . . . 

No attack was made on them either by night or day, and Houses of 
before winter set in their rude cabins, each with its port holes 
and a strong bar across the door, were completed. The roofs 
were of clap-boards, and the floors of puncheons, for sawing 
was out of the question. Another and, to nearly the whole 
colon}^ the last removal now took place. Kentucky was no 
longer a promise, but a possession — not an imagination, but 
a reality; they had ceased to be Jersey men, and become 
Virginians; for at that time the daughter was still a member 
of her mother's house. . . . 

For the next six years my father continued to reside at 
the same place, in the same original log cabin, which in due 
course of time acquired a roof, a puncheon floor, below and 



to Ken- 
tucliy. 



tlie pio- 
neers. 



Means of 
defence. 



170 



Readings in American History 



Clearing 
the land. 



Lack of 
food. 



Danger 
from In- 
dians. 



a clap-board roof above, a small square window without 
glass, and a chimney, carried up with "cats and clay" to the 
height of the ridge-pole. These "cats and clay" were pieces 
of small poles, well imbedded in mortar. The rifle, indis- 
pensable both for hunting and defense, lay on two pegs driven 
into one of the logs; the axe, and scythe — no Jerseyman 
emigrated without those implements — were kept at night 
under the bed as weapons of defense, in case the Indians 
should make an attack. In the morning the first duty was 
to ascend, by a ladder which always stood leaning behind 
the door, to the loft, and look out through the cracks for 
Indians, lest they might have planted themselves near the 
door, to rush in when the strong cross-bar should be removed, 
and the heavy latch raised from its resting place. But no 
attack was ever made on his or any other of the four cabins 
which composed the station. . . . 

The first and greatest labor after father had thus domi- 
ciliated his little family, was to clear sufficient land for a 
crop the following year, which was, of course, to consist of 
corn and a few garden vegetables. The autumn of 1789 
would have brought forth a sufficient abundance, but that 
on the night of the last day of August there came so severe 
a frost as to kill the unripe corn, and almost break the hearts 
of those who had watched its growth from day to day in 
joyous anticipation. 

From the time of their arrival in Kentucky, fourteen 
months before, they had suffered from want of bread, and 
now they found themselves doomed to the same deficiency 
for another year. There was no fear of famine, but they 
cloyed on animal food, and sometimes almost loathed it, 
though of an excellent quality. Deer were numerous, and 
wild turkeys numberless. There was no longing for the 
"flesh-pots" of native land, but their hearts yearned for its 
meat and abounding wheat-bread trays. 

Up to the victory of Wayne in 1794, the danger from In- 
dians still continued; that is through a period of six years 
from the time of our arrival. I well remember that Indian 



The Period of the Confederation 



171 



wars, midnight butcheries, captivities, and horse-stealings, 
were the daily topics of conversation. Volunteering to pur- 
sue marauding parties occasionally took place, and some- 
times men were drafted. At that time, as at present, there 
were many young men who delighted in war much more than 
work, and therefore preferred the tomahawk to the axe. At 
that period, the Shawnees residing on the Scioto, and the 
Wyandots on the Sandusky, were our great enemies. The 
children were told at night, "lie still and go to sleep, or the 
Shawnees will catch you." Through the period of which I 
have been speaking, and for several years afterward, and I 
well recollect, nearly all my troubled or. vivid dreams included 
either Indians or snakes — the copper-colored man, and the 
copper-headed snake, then extremely common. 

Soon after the settlement at Mayslick, all the people being Religious 
either professors of religion in, or adherents to, the Baptist ^^° ession. 
church, a log meeting-house was built about a quarter of a 
mile up the road, to the south, and Parson Wood, of Wash- 
ington, frequently came out to preach. . . . 

Within the six years that elapsed, the number of settlers increase of 
had increased to such an extent that one could not wander ^*^**®''^- 
a mile in any direction, without meeting with a clearing of 
two or ten acres, often enclosed with a brush fence, and des- 
ignated as a human residence by a one-story unhewed log 
cabin with the latch string always out, and the usual number 
of ragged children around the door. . . . 

Nothing is equal to the Indian corn for the settlers of a Com a ne- 
new and isolated spot. At the present time, when steam- foo^*^ °'* 
boats not only transport the movers to every point, but 
afterward supply them with flour and every needful article 
of food, the value of corn to the first settlers of Kentucky 
can only be estimated by those who witnessed the pressure 
of the arm of civilization against the resisting forest, and 
saw that men had to support themselves while they were 
performing the very labor from which support must come. 
In the new soil, corn, with moderate cultivation, yielded 
from sixty to eighty bushels to the acre. 



172 Readings in Aniericati History 

Frontier . . . But I iiiust pass on to tlie antagonisms of the corn- 

spor s. husking. When the crop was drawn in, the ears were heaped 
into a long pile or rick, a night fixed on, and the neighbors 
notified, rather than invited, for it was an affair of mutual 
assistance. As they assembled at nightfall the green glass 
quart whisky bottle, stopped with a cob, was handed to 
every one, man or boy, as they arrived, to take a drink. A 
sufficient number to constitute a quorum having arrived, two 
men, or more commonly two boys, constituted themselves, 
or were by acclamation declared captains. They paced the 
rick or estimated its contractions and expansions with the 
eye, till they were able to fix on the spot on which the end of 
the dividing rail should be. In a few minutes the rick was 
charged upon by rival forces. As others arrived, as soon as 
the owner had given each the bottle, he fell in, according to 
the end that he belonged to. The captains planted them- 
selves on each side of the rail, sustained by their most active 
operatives. There at the beginning was the great contest, 
for it was lawful to cause the rail to slide or fall toward your 
end, shortening it and lengthening the other. Although 
nearly fifty years have rolled away, I have never seen a more 
anxious rivalry, nor a fiercer struggle. It was there that I 
first learned that competition is the mother of cheating, false- 
hood, and broils. The heap cut in two, the parties turned 
their backs upon each other, and making their hands keep 
time with a peculiar sort of time, the chorus of voices on a 
still night might be heard a mile. The oft-replenished 
whisky bottle meanwhile circulated freely, and at the close 
the victorious captain, mounted on the shoulders of some of 
the stoutest men, with the bottle in one hand and his hat 
in the other, was carried in triumph around the vanquished 
party amidst shouts of \ictory which rent the air. Then 
came the supper, upon which t\\v women had^been busily em- 
ployed, and which alw ays included a " pot-pie." Either before 
or after eating the fighting took place, and by midnight the 
sober were found assisting the drunken home. Such was one 
of my autumnal schools, from the age of nine to fifteen years. 



The Period of the Confederation 



173 



I was taught the vaUie of learning, by being denied the 
opportunities for acquiring more than a pittance. I was 
taught tlie value of time, by having more to do day after 
day than could be well accomplished. I was molded to do 
many things, if not absolutely at the same time, in such 
quick succession as almost to render them identical; a habit 
which I have found of great advantage to me through life. 
But better than all these, I grew up with love and obedience 
to m}' mother, and recei\ed from her an early moral training, 
to which, in conjunction with that of my father, I owe, per- 
haps, more of my humble success in life, and of my humble 
preparation for the life to come, than to any other influence. 
She was still more illiterate than my father, but was pious, 
and could read the Bible, Rippon's hymns, and Pilgrim's 
Progress. Her natural understanding was tolerable only, 
but she comprehended the principles of domestic and chris- 
tian duty, and sought to inculcate them. This she never 
did by protracted lectures, but mixed them up with all our 
daily labors. 

The era of division of labor and distribution of commodi- 
ties on sale, had not yet arrived ; and, of course, no particu- 
lar branch was pushed very far; and least of all, that which 
ministered to intellectual improvement, for its articles were 
least in demand. Bibles, hymn-books, primers, spelling- 
books, arithmetics, and almanacs, in fact, composed, in most 
instances, the importation, which was always from Philadel- 
phia, the only city of the seaboard which maintained any 
commercial intercourse with the infant settlements of the 
interior. Our preachers and teachers were, in general, al- 
most as destitute as the people at large, many of whom 
could neither read or write, did not send their children to 
school, and, of course, kept no books in the house. Of our 
own library I have already spoken incidentally. A family 
Bible, Rippon's Hymns, Watt's Hymns for Children, the 
Pilgrim's Progress, an old romance of the days of knight- 
errantry, primers, with a plate representing John Rogers at 
the stake, spelling-books, an arithmetic, and a new almanac 



Education 
of the 
youth. 



Books. 



174 



Readings in American History 



Hospital- 
ity general 
on the 
frontier. 
Society 
crude. 



Military 
training. 



for the new year, composed all that I can recollect, till within 
two or three years of my leaving home. 

Immigrants into the wilderness are or rather become, so- 
cial and hospitable; for their isolation makes them glad to 
see each other. They have private or family visiting, with 
abundance of small talk about the countries they had left, 
about their pursuits, their children, and their neighbors, in 
the last of which, according to my experience, they do not 
yield to people under any other circumstances. They also 
have many gatherings. Some are composed of men and boys 
only, for raising houses, stables, and barns, or rolling logs, 
for husking corn, for opening new roads, and other purposes; 
all of which I have repeatedly attended, and well recollect 
that profanity, vulgarity and drinking were their most emi- 
nent characteristics. All drank, though not to excess. 
Coarse jocularities were scarcely frowned upon by any. 
Some sort of physical amusement, including fights, in which 
biting and gouging were essential elements, with the beastly 
intoxication of several would generally wind up these meet- 
ings. 

We had other gatherings composed of females only, or of 
the two sexes united. Dances were not common. Weddings, 
commonly in the day time, were scenes of carousal and of 
mirth. Another kind of gathering was the quilting party. 

Mayslick, although scarcely a village, was at once an em- 
porium and capital for a tract of country six or eight miles 
in diameter and embracing several hundred families, of which 
those in my father's neighborhood were tolerably fair speci- 
mens. ... It was the place for holding regimental militia 
musters, where all the boys, and old men of the surrounding 
country, not less than those who stood enrolled, would assem- 
ble; and before dispersing at night, the training was quite 
eclipsed by a heterogeneous drama of foot racing, pony rac- 
ing, wrestling, fighting, drunkenness and general uproar. It 
was also a place for political meetings and stump conflict by 
opposing candidates, and after intellectual performances there 
generally followed an epilogue of oaths, yells, loud blows, 



The Period of the Confederation 



175 



and gnashing of teeth. Singing-schools were likewise held 
at the same place, in a room of Deacon Morris' tavern. 

It may be interesting to you to know something of the 
Baptist preachers and the prevalent religious ideas of those 
days. Most of the former were illiterate persons, but some 
were men of considerable natural talents. ... A great deal 
of the preaching of those times was doctrinal, I might say 
metaphysical, and most of the religious conversation which I 
heard was of the same kind. Election, reprobation, and pre- 
destination were the favorite themes. They were all held 
strongly in the affirmative, and the slightest doubt was 
branded as tending to heresy. 

Presbyterian ministers occasionally preached in the vil- 
lage; but they found little favor with the predominant Bap- 
tist people. The objections to them, as I well recollect, 
were their advocacy of sprinkling and infant baptism, and 
their having been educated in early life to the ministry as to 
a profession. 

The Methodists were, in the main, Marylanders and Vir- 
ginians, the former predominating. Most of them were 
among the lamentably ignorant. The high and disorderly 
excitement which characterized their worship was equally 
lamentable. Their preachers, in point of learning, were even 
below those of the Baptist connection. 

My superstition, and that of the people of Mayslick, in 
the days of which I am writing, extended to other things than 
heaven and hell. It embraced omens, ghosts, and even self- 
notions of dead men's bones. . . . We had, at the period of 
which I write, several common and current credulities, which 
were not superstitions, though they are erroneously called so. 
A belief in the influence of the moon, not only on the atmos- 
phere, but on vegetation and even animal life, was common. 
Thus, radishes must be planted at the decrease of the moon, 
for the^- tapered downward ; and so of some other vegetables. 
And hogs must not be killed in the dark or decrease of that 
luminary, for the pork would shrink and waste away in the 
barrel. Then there were the twelve signs of the Zodiac, 



Christian 
doctrines. 



Denomi- 
national 
difficul- 
ties. 



Creduli- 
ties of the 
people. 



176 



Readings in American History 



presiding over twelve different parts of the living body in the 
twelve months of the year but where or what the Zodiac was, 
no one knew. Notwithstanding our ignorance, or rather, in 
consequence of it, we believed that many things must be 
done, or left undone, during the reign of each constellation, 
and therefore the almanac was an important book of refer- 
ence. . . . 



Industrial 
crisis. 



Reason for 
crisis. 



Further 
causes for 
commer- 
cial troub- 
les. 



38. A Weak Form of Government and Trade Condi- 
tions, 1787 

Tench Coxe was a member of the Annapolis Convention, 178G, 
and also of the Continental Congress, 1788. In 1789, he was made 
assistant secretary of the treasury. He is noted as a political econ- 
omist and for his discussions of .\merican industrial problems. — 
(Tench Coxe, A View of the United States of America, 4, 5, 26-32. 
Philadelphia, 1794.) 

There are in every country certain important crises, when 
exertion or neglect must produce consequences of the utmost 
moment. The period, at which the inhabitants of these 
states have now arrived, will be admitted, by every attentive 
and serious person, to be clearly of this description. 

Our money absorbed by a wanton consumption of imported 
luxuries, a fluctuating paper medium beginning to be substi- 
tuted in its stead, foreign commerce extremely circumscribed, 
and a federal government not only ineffective but disjointed, 
tell us indeed too plainly, that further negligence may ruin 
us forever. . . . 

The commercial citizens of America have for some time felt 
the deepest distress. Among the principal causes of their 
imhappy situation were the inconsiderate spirit of adventure 
to this country, which pervaded almost every kingdom in 
Europe; and the prodigious credit there given to our mer- 
chants on the return of peace. To these may be added, the 
high spirits, and the golden dreams, which naturally followed 
such a war, closed with so much honour and success. — Tri- 
umphant over a great enemy, courted by the most powerful 



The Period of the Confederation 



177 



nations in the world, it was not in human nature, that America 
should immediately comprehentl her new situation. Really 
possessed of the means of future greatness, she anticipated 
the most distant benefits of the revolution, and considered 
them as already in her hands. She formed the highest ex- 
pectations; many of which, however, serious experience has 
taught her to relinquish: and now that the thoughtless ad- 
ventures and imprudent credits from foreign countries take 
place no more, and time has been given for cool reflection, 
she can see her real situation, and need not be discouraged. . . . 
The foundations of national wealth and consequence are 
so firmly laid in the United States, that no foreign power can 
undermine or destroy them. But the enjoyment of these 
substantial blessings is rendered precarious by domestic cir- 
cumstances. Scarcely held together by a weak and half- 
formed federal constitution, the powers of our national gov- 
ernment are unequal to the complete execution of any salutary 
purpose, foreign or domestic. The evils resulting from this 
unhappy state of things have again shocked our reviving 
credit, produced among our people alarming instances of dis- 
obedience to the laws, and, if not remedied, must destroy 
our property, liberties, and peace. Foreign jx)wers, however 
disposed to favour us, can expect neither satisfaction nor 
benefit from treaties with Congress, while it is unable to en- 
force them. We can therefore hope to secure no privileges 
from them, if matters be thus conducted. We must imme- 
diately remedy this defect, or suffer exceedingly. Desultory 
commercial acts of the legislatures, formed on the impression 
of the moment, proceeding from no uniform or permanent 
principles, clashing with the laws of other states, and oppos- 
ing those made in the preceding year by the enacting state, 
can no longer be supported, if we be to continue one people. 
A system, which will promote the general interests, with the 
smallest injury to particular ones, has become indispensably 
necessary. Commerce is more affected by the distractions 
and evils arising from the uncertainty, opposition, and errours, 
of our trade laws, than by the restrictions of any one power 



Weakness 
of govern- 
ment. 



Influence 
of a weak 
govern- 
ment on 
foreign af- 
fairs. 



Conflict in 
legislation. 



Uncertain 
trade laws 
and com- 
merce. 



178 



Readings in American History 



Restora- 
tion of 
public 
credit a 
necessity. 



Influence 
of tender 
laws. 



in Europe. A negative upon all commercial acts of the legis- 
latures, if granted to Congress, would be perfectly safe, and 
must have an excellent effect. If thought expedient, it 
should he given as well with regard to those that exist, as to 
those that may be devised in future. Congress would thus 
be enabled to prevent every regulation, that might oppose 
the general interest; and by restraining the states from im- 
politic laws, would gradually bring our national commerce 
to order and perfection. . . . 

The restoration of public credit at home and abroad should 
be the first wish of our hearts, and requires every economy, 
every exertion we can make. The wise and virtuous axioms 
of our political constitutions, resulting from a lively and per- 
fect sense of what is due from man to man, should prompt us 
to the discharge of debts of such peculiar obligation. We 
stand bound to no common creditors. The friendly foreigner, 
the widow and the orphan, the trustees of charity and religion, 
the patriotic citizen, the war-worn soldier, and a magnani- 
mous ally — these are the principal claimants upon the feelings 
and justice of America. Let her apply all her resources to 
this great duty, and wipe away the darkest stain, that has ever 
fallen upon her. The general import — the sale of the lands, 
and every other unnecessary article of public property — re- 
straining with a firm hand every needless expence of govern- 
ment and private life — steady and patient industry, with 
proper dispositions in the people — would relieve us of part 
of the burden, enable Congress to commence it's payments, 
and, with the aid of taxation, would put the sinking and 
funding of our debts within the power of the United States. 

The violence committed on the rights of property under the 
authority of tender laws, in some of the states; the familiarity 
with which that pernicious measure has been recurred to; 
and the shameless perseverance with which it has been per- 
sisted in, after the value of the paper was confessedly gone; 
call aloud for some remedy. This is not merely a matter of 
justice between man and man. It dishonours our national 
character abroad, and the engine has been employed to give 



The Period of the Confederation 



179 



the coup de grace to public credit. It would not be difficult, 

perhaps, to form a new article of confederation to prevent it 

in future; and a question may arise, whether fellowship with 

any state, that would refuse to admit it, can be satisfactory 

or safe. To remove difficulties it need not be retrospective. 

The present state of things, instead of inviting emigrants, influence 

deters all who have the means of information, and are capable n^grciTi" 

of thinking. The settlement of our lands, and the introduc- disturb- 

tion of manufactories and branches of trade yet unknown on^m- 

among us, or requiring a great capital, which are to make our migration. 

country rich and powerful, are interrupted and suspended by 

our want of public credit and the numerous disorders of 

our government. . . . 



CHAPTER XIII 
THE FORMATION OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 

39. The First Abolition Society 

The first abolition law in the United States was passed bj' the 
legislature of Pennsylvania in 1780. This law, providing for grad- 
ual abolition, was due chiefly to the influence of the Quakers. The 
contest for complete abolition was carried on mainly by the Penn- 
sylvania Society for Promoting the Abolition of Slavery. During 
these years the numbers of slaves in the State were becoming fewer. 
According to the census of 1790 there were less than four thousand 
slaves in Pennsylvania. In 1820 there were two hundred and 
eleven, and in 1830 sixty-seven.— (American Museum, Vol. VI, 283.) 

An address to the public, from the Penn.sylvania Society 
for promoting the aboUtion of slavery, and the rehef of free 
negroes, unlawfully held in bondage. 

It is with peculiar satisfaction, we assure the friends of 
humanity, that, in prosecuting the design of our association, 
our endeavours have proved successful, far beyond our most 
sanguine expectations. 

Encouraged by this success, by the daily progress of that 
luminous and benign spirit of liberty, which is diffusing itself 
throughout the world^and humbly hoping for the continu- 
ance of the divine blessing on our lal)ours — we have ventured 
to make an important addition to our original plans, and do, 
therefore, earnestly .solicit the support and assistance of all 
who can feel the tender emotions of sympathy and compas- 
sion, or relish the exalted pleasure of beneficence. 

Slavery is such an atrocious debasement of human nature, 
that its very extirpation, if not performed with solicitous 
care, may sometimes open a source of serious evils. 

The unhappy man, who has long been treated as a brute 

ISO 



Formation of the Federal Constitntion 181 

animal, too frequently sinks beneath the common standard 
of the human species. The galling chains, that bind his body 
do also fetter his intellectual faculties, and impair the social 
affections of his heart. Accustomed to move like a mere 
machine, by the will of a master, reflexion is suspended: he 
has not the power of choice; and reason and conscience have 
but little influence over his conduct: because he is chiefly 
governed by the passion of fear. He is poor and friendless 
— perhaps worn out by extreme labour and disease. 

Under such circumstances, freedom may often prove a 
misfortune to himself, and prejudicial to society. 

Attention to emancipated black people, it is therefore to 
be hoped, will become a branch of our national police; but 
as far as we contribute to promote this emancipation, so far 
that attention is evidently a serious duty, incumbent on lis, 
and which we mean to discharge to the best of our judgment 
and abilities. 

To instruct — to advise — to qualify — those who have been 
restored to freedom, for the exercise and enjoyment of civil 
liberty — to promote in them habits of industry — to furnish 
them with employments suited to their age, sex, talents, and 
other circumstances — and to procure their children an edu- 
cation calculated for their future situation in life — these are 
the great outlines of the annexed plan, which we have 
adopted, and which we conceive will essentially promote the 
public good, and the happiness of these our hitherto too 
much neglected fellow creatures. 

A plan so extensive cannot be carried into execution, with- 
out considerable pecuniary resources, beyond the present 
ordinary funds of the society. We hope much from the 
generosity of enlightened and benevolent freemen, and will 
gratefully receive any donations or subscriptions for the 
purpose, which may be made to our treasurer, James Starr, 
or to James Pemberton, chairman of our committee of cor- 
respondence. 

Signed by order of the society, 

B. Franklin, president. 
Philadelphia, 9th of Nov., 1789. 



182 Readings in" American History 

Plan for improving the condition of the free blacks, above 
mentioned: 

The business, relative to free blacks, shall be transacted by 
a committee of twenty-four persons, annually elected by bal- 
lot, at the meeting of this society, in the month called April; 
and in order to perform the different services, with expedi- 
tion, regularity, and energy, this committee shall resolve it- 
self into the following sub-committees, viz. 

I. A committee of inspection, who shall superintend 
the morals, general conduct, and ordinary situation of the 
free negroes, and afford them advice and instruction; pro- 
tection from wrongs; and other friendly offices. 

II. A committee of guardians, who shall place out chil- 
dren and young people with suitable persons, that they may 
(during a moderate time of apprenticeship, or servitude) 
learn some trade or other business of subsistence. The com- 
mittee may effect this partly by a persuasive influence on 
parents and the persons concerned ; and partly by co-operat- 
ing with the laws, which are, or may be enacted for this, 
and similar purposes; in forming contracts on these occa- 
sions, the committee shall secure to the society, as far as 
may be practicable, the right of guardianship, over the per- 
sons so bound. 

III. A committee of education, who shall superintend 
the school instruction of the children and youth of the free- 
blacks; they may either influence them to attend regularly 
the schools, already established in this city, or form others 
with this view; they shall, in either case, provide, that the 
pupils may receive such learning, as is necessary for their 
future situation in life; and especially a deep impression of 
the most important, and generally acknowledged moral and 
religious principles. They shall also procure and preserve 
a regular record of the marriages, births, and manumissions 
of all free blacks. 

IV. A committee of employ, who shall endeavour to pro- 
cure constant employment for those free negroes, who are 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 183 

able to work: as the want of this would occasion poverty, 
idleness, and man}- vicious habits. This committee will, by 
sedulous enquiry, be enabled to find common labour for a 
great number; they will also provide, that such as indicate 
proper talents, may learn various trades, which may be done 
by prevailing upon them to bind themselves for such a term 
of years, as shall compensate their masters for the expense 
and trouble of instruction, and maintenance. The commit- 
tee may attempt the institution of some useful and simple 
manufactures, which require but little skill, and also may 
assist, in commencing business, such as appear to be quali- 
fied for it. 

The expense, incurred by the promotion of this plan, shall 
be defrayed by a fund to be formed by donations, or sub- 
scriptions, for these particular purposes, and to be kept sep- 
arate from the other funds of this society. 

40. Economic and Social Conditions in America, 1788 

Jean Pierre Brissot de Warville, who was one of the leaders in 
bringing on the French Revolution, visited America during the 
year 1788 for the purpose of observing the influence of liberty on 
man in society. His description of the country and portrayal of 
political and social conditions were prepared as letters and later 
were published in book form. The author stated in the preface: 
"I should even myself regret the time I spent in reducing this work 
to order, if I did not think that it might be useful and necessary in- 
supporting our Revolution." — (J. P. Brissot de Warville, New Trav- 
els in the United States of America, 42, 51 passim. Boston, 1797.) 

With what pleasure did I contemplate this town, which Descrip- 
first shook off the English yoke! which, for a long time, re- 
sisted all the seductions, all the menaces, all the horrors of a 
civil war! How 1 delighted to wander up and down that 
long street whose simple houses of wood border the magnif- 
icent channel of Boston, and whose stores offer me all the 
productions of the continent which I had quitted! How I 
enjoyed the activity of the merchants, the artisans, and the 
sailors! It was not the noisy vortex of Paris; it was not the 



tion of 
Boston. 



184 Readings in American History 

unquiet, eager mien of my countrymen; it was the simple, 
dignified air of men who are conscious of Uberty, and who 
see in all men their brothers and their equals. 

E\erything in this street bears the marks of a town still 
in its infancy, but which, even in its infancy, enjoys a great 
prosperity. I thought myself in that Salentum, of which 
the lively pencil of Fenelon has left us so charming an image. 
But the prosperity of this new Salentum was not the work 
of one man, of a king or a minister; it is the fruit of liberty, 
that parent of industry. Everything is rapid, everything 
great, everything durable with her. A royal or ministerial 
prosperity, like a king or a minister, has only the duration 
of a moment. Boston is just rising from the devastations of 
war, and its commerce is flourishing; its manufactures, pro- 
ductions, arts, and sciences, offer a number of curious and 
interesting observations. 
People of The manners of the people are not exactly the same as 
described by M. de Crevecceur. You no longer meet here 
that Presbyterian austerity, which interdicted all pleasures, 
even that of walking; which forbade travelling on Sunday, 
which persecuted men whose opinions were different from 
their own. The Bostonians unite simplicity of morals with 
that French politeness and delicacy of manners which render 
virtue more amiable. They are hospitable to strangers, and 
obliging to friends; they are tender husbands and almost 
idolatrous parents and kind masters. Music which their 
teachers formerly proscribed as a diabolical art, begins to 
make part of their education. In some homes you hear the 
forte-piano. This art, it is true is still in its infancy; but 
the young novices who exercise it, are so gentle, so complai- 
sant, and so modest, that the proud perfection of art gi\'es no 
pleasure equal to what they afford. God grant that the 
Bostonian women may never, like those of France, acquire 
the malady of perfection in this art! It is never attained, 
but at the expense of domestic virtues. 

Neatness without luxury, is a characteristic feature of this 
purity of manners; and this neatness is seen everywhere at 



Boston. 



Fonnation of the Federal Coihstitution 185 

Boston, in their dress, In their houses, and in their churches. 
Nothing is more charming than an inside view of the church 
on Sunday. The good cloth coat covers the man; calHcoes 
and chintzes dress the women and children, without being 
spoiled by those gewgaws which whim and caprice have 
added to them among our women. Powder and pomatum 
ne\er sully the heads of infants and children: I see them with 
pain, howe\'er, on the heads of men: they invoke the art of 
the hair-dresser; for, unhappily, this art has already crossed 
the seas. 

But to crown my happiness, I saw none of those livid 
wretches, covered with rags, who in Europe soliciting our 
compassion at the foot of the altar, seem to bear testimony 
against Providence, our humanity, and the order of society. 
The discourse, the prayer, the worship, everything, bore the 
same simplicity. The sermon breathed the best morality, 
and it was heard with attention. 

It is remarked, that, in countries chiefly devoted to com- commer- 
merce the sciences are not carried to any high degree. This '^'^l '5''^^'^', 
remark applies to Boston. The university certainly con- nant. 
tains men of worth and learning; but science is not diffused 
among the inhabitants of the town. Commerce occupies all 
their ideas, turns all their heads, and absorbs all their specu- 
lations. Thus you find few estimable works, and few au- 
thors. The expense of the first volume of the Memoirs of 
the Academy of this town, is not yet covered ; it is two years 
since it appeared. Sometime since was published, the his- 
tory of the late troubles in Massachusetts; it is very well 
written. The author has found much difficulty to indem- 
nify himself for the expense of printing it. Never has the 
whole of the precious history of New Hampshire, by Bel- 
knap, appeared, for want of encouragement. 

They pul)lish a magazine here, though the number of Ga- News- 
zettes is considerable. The nuiltiplicity of (lazettes proves p^p®'^- 
the activity of conuuerce, and the taste for politics and 
news; the merits and nmltiplicity of Literary and Political 
Magazines are signs of the culture of the sciences. 



ISO 



Readings in American History 



Houses 

and 

streets. 



Social New 
York. 



Stage- 
coach 
travel. 



Let us not blame the Bostonians ; they think of the useful! 
before procuring to themselves the agreeable. They have no 
brilliant monuments; but they have neat and commodious 
churches, but they have good houses, but they have superb 
bridges, and excellent ships. Their streets are well illumi- 
nated at night while many ancient cities of Europe contain- 
ing proud monuments of art, have never yet thought of pre- 
venting the fatal effects of nocturnal darkness. . . . 

If there is a town on the American continent where the 
English luxury displays its follies, it is New-York. You 
will find here the English fashions. In the dress of the women 
you will see the most brilliant silks, gauzes, hats, and bor- 
rowed hair. Equipages are rare ; but they are elegant. The 
men have more simplicity in their dress; they disdain gew- 
gaws, but they take their revenge in the luxury of the table. 

Luxury forms already, in this town, a class of men very 
dangerous in society — I mean bachelors. The expence of 
women causes matrimony to be dreaded by men. 

I went from New- York the 25th of August, at six o-clock 
in the morning; and bad to pass the North River before 
arriving to the stage. We passed the ferry in an open boat, 
and landed at Paulus Hook; they reckon two miles for this 
ferry, for which we pay sixpence, money of New-York. 

The carriage is a kind of open waggon, hung with double 
curtains of leather and woolen, which you raise or let fall at 
pleasure: it is not well suspended. But the road was so fine, 
being sand and gravel, that we felt no inconvenience from 
that circumstance. The horses are good and go with rapidity. 
These carriages have four Ijenches, and may contain twelve 
persons. The liglit baggage is put under the benches, and 
the trunks fixed on behind. A traveller who does not choose 
to take the stage, has a one-horse carriage by himself. 

Let the Frenchmen who have travelled in these carriages, 
compare them to those used in France; to those heavy dili- 
gences, where eight or ten persons are stuffed in together; 
to those cabriolets in the environs of Paris, where two persons 
are closely confined, and deprived of air, driven by a dirty 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 187 

driver who torments his miserable jades: and those carriages 
have to run over the finest roads, and yet make but one 
league an hour. If the Americans had such roads, with what 
rapidity would they travel? Since notwithstanding the incon- 
venience of the roads, they now run ninety -six miles in a day. 
Thus, with only a century and a half of existence, and 
opposed by a thousand obstacles, they are already superior 
to people who have been undisturbed in their progress for 
fifteen centuries. 

You find in these stages, men of all professions. They 
succeed each other with rapidity. One who goes but twenty 
miles, yields his place to one who goes farther. The mother 
and daughter mount the stage to go ten miles to dine; another 
stage brings them back. At every instant, then, you are 
making new acquaintances. The frequency of the carriages, 
the facility of finding places in them, and the low and fixed 
price, invite the Americans to travel. These carriages have 
another advantage, they keep up the idea of equality. The 
member of Congress is placed by the side of the shoe maker 
who elected him: they fraternize together and converse with 
familiarity. You see no person here taking upon himself 
those important airs, which you too often meet with in 
France. . . . 

This is the hospital so justly celebrated by M. de Creve- Hospital 
coeur, and which the humane Mr. Mazzei regards only as a s°ne*V° 
curiosity scarcely worth seeing. Phiiadei- 

The building is fine, elegant, and well kept. I was charmed ^ 
with the cleanliness in the halls of the sick, as well as in the 
particular chambers. I observed the bust of Franklin in the 
Library, and was told that this honor was rendered him as 
one of the principal founders of this institution. The library 
is not numerous; but well chosen. The hall on the first floor, 
is appropriated to sick men : there were six in it. About the 
same number of sick women were in a like hall on the second 
floor. These persons appeared by no means miserable; they 
seemed to be at home. 

I went below to see the lunatics ; there were about fifteen. 



188 Readings in American History 

male and female. Each one has his cell, with a bed, a table, 
and a convenient window with grates. Stoves are fixed in 
the walls, to warm the cell in winter. 

There were no mad persons among them. Most of the 
patients are the victims of religious melancholy, or of dis- 
appointed love. These unhappy persons are treated with 
the greatest tenderness; they are allowed to walk in the 
court; are constantly visited by two physicians. Dr. Rush 
has invented a kind of swing chair for their exercise. 

What a difference between this treatment and the atrocious 
regulations to which we condemn such wretches in France I 
where they are rigorously confined, and their disorders scarcely 
ever fail to increase upon them. 

The Turks, on the contrary, manifest a singular respect to 
persons insane: they are eager to administer food to them, to 
load them with caresses. Fools in that country are ne\er 
known to be injurious; whereas, with us, they are dangerous, 
because they are unhappy. 

The view of these persons affected me more than that of 
the sick. The last of human miseries, in my opinion, is con- 
finement; and I cannot concei\e how a sick person can be 
cured in prison, for confinement itself is a continual malady. 
The exercise of walking abroad, the view of the field, the mur- 
mur of the rivulets, and the singing of the birds, with the aid 
of vegetable diet, appear to me the best means of curing in- 
sanity. It is true, that this method requires too many attend- 
ants; and the impossibility of following it for the hospital of 
Philadelphia, makes it necessary to recur to locks and bars. 
But why do they place these cells beneath the ground floor, 
exposed to the unwholesome humidity of the earth? The 
enlightened and humane Dr. Rush told me, that he had en- 
deavored for a long time in vain, to introduce a change in this 
particular; and that this hospital was founded at a time when 
little attention was thought necessary for the accommodation 
of fools. . . . 
Fitch's (),^ leaving him, I went to see an experiment, near the 

boat. Delaware, on a boat, the object of which is to ascend ri\ers 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 189 

against the current. The inventor was Mr. Fitch who had 
found a company to support the expehce. One of the most 
zealous associates is Mr. Thornton of whom I have spoken. 
This invention was disputed between Mr. Fitch and Mr. 
Rumsey of Virginia. However it be, the machine I saw, ap- 
pears well executed, and well adapted to the design. The 
steam engine gives motion to three large oars of considerable 
force which were to give fifty strokes per minute. 

I doubt not but, physically speaking, this machine may 
produce part of the effects which are expected from it: but I 
doubt its utility in commerce; for, notwithstanding the as- 
surances of the undertakers, it must require man}- men to 
manage it, and much expence in repairing the damages occa- 
sioned by the violence and multiplicity of the friction. . . . 

Philadelphia may be considered as the metropolis of the Phiiadei- 
United States. It is certainly the finest town, and best built, metropolis 
It is the most wealthy, though not the most luxurious. You 
find here more men of information, more political and literary 
knowledge, and more learned societies. Many towns in 
America are more ancient; but Philadelphia has surpassed her 
elders. 

At ten-o-clock in the evening all is tranquil in the streets; 
the profound silence which reigns there, is only interrupted 
by the voice of the watchmen, who are in small numbers and 
who form the only patrole. The streets are lighted by lamps, 
placed like those of London. . . . 



41. The Temperance Movement, 1789 

(The American Museum, VI, 379-381.) 

If temperance in all things be ornamental, and necessary Argu- 
for the support of our dignity and the advancement of human ^^l^J^'^ 
felicity — how emphatically important must it be in the use ance. 
of intoxicating spirits? Here intemperance is fatal ! An im- 
moderate draught at once drowns the reason of man, and 
sinks him in the deplorable gulph of ignominy and contempt. 



190 



Readings in American Hutory 



Influence 
of the Rev- 
olution on 
intemper- 
ance. 



Use of in- 
toxicants 
general 
among la- 
borers. 



Those, who (notwithstanding they may be too lavish in the 
use of spirituous liquors) are not lost to every idea of decency 
and decorum, and sunk beneath the pride of man, the specu- 
lator conceives are open to conviction, and will cheerfully 
embrace those habits which shall appear to be the most con- 
ducive to their own and the community's prosperity. Times 
of public tumult and relaxation of government are most com- 
monly times of dissipation. It proved so with America, in 
her late war with Great Britain. Before that commotion 
took place, the use of spirituous liquors was comparatively 
small to what it has been since. During the suspension of 
law, money being plenty, and debtors not being compelled 
to pay their debts, it became a too predominant practice, to 
waste large sums in the purchase and expenditure of rum 
and other spirits. Idleness and a too free use of the cup 
and can, those sister habits, infected the community at large. 
At the close of the war, when the circumstances of our coun- 
try demanded industry and economy, it was difficult to re- 
turn to our pristine simplicity of manners, and temperance 
of life, in the pursuit of our private or domestic affairs. The 
husbandman could not hire labourers to cultivate his lands, 
without supplying them with a quantity of inflammatory 
liquors, almost equal in value to the amount of their serv- 
ices. So general was the custom, and so fashionable the 
practice, that the labourer claimed it as his right; and if he 
could not receive so much rum or toddy as would almost 
disable him from service, he would quit the field of his em- 
ployer, and leave his harvest to be wasted on the ground. 
This pernicious fashion was not confined to the labourers in 
the field ; the mechanics, if possible, exceeded them in extrav- 
agance of these kinds of demands. Business was conse- 
quently ill performed and extravagantly paid for. Our tav- 
erns were daily thronged with swarms of our citizens, who 
there wasted their property, injured their constitutions and 
corrupted their morals. In addition to all this, every man 
was obliged to keep a kind of grog shop in his own house, 
for his neighbours, acquaintances and hangers on, or be es- 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 191 

teemed a niggard. Even among the most indigent, those 
who could but scantily provide bread for their children, 
it was thought ill usage, if they did not hand out their bottles 
to their thirsty visitors. A barrel of rum at that time would 
in many families last but little longer than a gallon would 
have done before the war. These extravagant habits so far 
exceeded the ability of the people, that many fell a sacrifice 
to their folly, and involved themselves and families in ruin 
and wretchedness. Private debts could not be discharged, 
nor could public requisitions be complied with. The conse- 
quence was natural — an universal complaint of hard times — 
of cruel creditors — or of oppression in rulers. The times were 
truly hard, and so will they ever be when intemperance pre- 
vails — when the people prefer the dissipation of a tavern to 
the cultivation of their fields. But happily for the commu- . 
nity, these habits seem now to be fast growing into disrepute; 
and temperance, economy, and industry seem to be esteemed 
objects of importance: and experience will probably soon 
convince us, that we can labour as well, and enjoy our health 
better, without inflammatory spirits than with them. Prob- 
ably not a quarter part so much rum has been drank in this 
part of the country the last year, as was done in the space 
of a year, at the close of the war. Some of our principal improved 
retailers have not, if we can believe their assertions, sold so ^°° ' *°°^' 
many pints of rum the last year as they did gallons the year 
before; and then the quantity was much diminished from 
that which was sold a few years earlier. Our taverns, too, 
are generally still and quiet, and rarely do we find people of 
the vicinity resorting to them, but on business, or some pub- 
lic occasion. Many of our principal farmers, in different 
parts of the country, have nobly broke through the perni- 
cious custom of treating their labourers with rum; and will 
not employ those who will not serve them without spirituous 
liquors. And they have found their account in it the present 
year — for it has been very observable in the course of the 
past summer, that those who have hired without supplying 
with spirits, ha\e had the best workmen and plenty of them, 



192 Readings in American History 

and that their work has been done the most neatly and with 
the greatest dispatch. 

The mechanics, also, in many places and especially the 
most reputable of them, have almost forsaken their cups. 
And men of business of all kinds, appear to be convinced 
that they can conduct their affairs better without spirituous 
liquors than with them. In this way, a great sa\ing has 
been made the last year by the citizens in general: and let 
any one judge if any inconveniences have resulted from these 
savings. 

Have not people been as healthy, strong and robust as 
when the;y drank ten times as much as they have done 
this year? Were our lands better cultivated then, than 
they are now? It was a common observation, a few years 
ago, that a man lost nothing by giving rum to his la- 
bourers, for they would do as much more labour as to pay 
for it. But if a man is not able to carry on business of any 
kind, whatever, without rum, he is unfit to be employed. 
When one has contracted a habit of any kind, it is difficult 
to quit it. Hence we frequently hear workmen say, they 
cannot work without rum. Why? because they have become 
habituated to the destructive and pernicious use of it. It is 
no symptom that a man ought not to live without spiritu- 
ous liquors, because he says that he cannot ; but the reverse. 
His hankering after them is conclusive evidence that he has 
used them too freely already. And it is quite time for such 
a one, to reflect seriously on the importance of his breaking 
the habit: he would do well to consider whether he be not 
on the road to intemperance — and if he is not foolishly wast- 
ing his earnings; now is the only time for such a one to de- 
liberate; for if a habit of this kind is ever to be checked, it 
must be done before it be deeply rooted; failure of the prin- 
cipal crops of the earth, we think it peculiarly the duty of 
every good citizen, to unite his efforts, to reform a practice 
which leads so many to poverty, distress and ruin. 

Whereupon we do hereby associate, and mutually agree, 
that hereafter we will carry on our business without the. use 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 193 

of distilled spirits, as an article of refreshment, either for our- 
selves or those whom we employ; and that instead thereof, 
w^e will serve our workmen with wholesome food, and the 
common simple drinks of our own production. — It will not 
answer for him to wait until he is sensible that he is actually 
injured ; for many a man has become a complete sot, before 
he has thought himself in any degree intemperate. 

Association of the principal i)ihabitauts of Litchfield, in 
Connecticut, for discoura(}ing the use of spirituous liquors. 
June, 1789. " • 

So many are the avenues leading to human misery, that 
it is impossible to guard them all. Such evils, as are pro- 
duced by our own folly and weakness, are within our power 
to avoid. The innnoderate use, which the people of this 
state make of distilled spirits, is undoubtedly an evil of this 
kind. It is obvious to every person of the smallest observa- 
tion, that, from this pernicious practice, follows a train of 
evils, difficult to be enumerated. The morals are corrupted, 
property is exhausted, and health destroyed. And it is most 
sincerely to be regretted, that, from a mistaken idea, that 
distilled spirits are necessary to labouring men, to counter- 
act the influence of heat and give relief from severe fatigue, 
a most valuable class of citizens have been led to contract 
a habit of such dangerous tendency. Hence arises the in- 
ability to pay public taxes, to discharge private debts, and 
to support and educate families. . . . 



194 



Readings in American History 



Admission 
to Prince- 
ton. 



Rules for 
students. 



42. Life at Princeton and on a Virginia Plantation, 

1767-1774 

Philip Vickers Fithian was a student at Princeton College, 1770-2 
and at the school of theology 1772-3. He then went to Virginia for 
a year as tutor in the family of Robert Carter. His letters give an 
excellent portrayal of the life of that time. — (Philip Vickers Fithian, 
Journal and Letters, 1767-74. Princeton, N. J., 1900. With per- 
mission of Princeton University Library.) 

Princeton, Novem: 

30th Anno 1770. 
Very Dear Father, 

Altho' I am very busy seeing I begun to study three weeks 
later than the rest of our Class, yet I think it my Duty to 
give you Notice of my Admission to this flourishing Semi- 
nary of Learning, which is another grand Step towards the 
Summit of my Wishes. . . . 

Mr. Hunter and myself, were admitted into the junior- 
Class on the twenty second day of November, after a pre- 
vious Examination by the President, Tutors, and some re- 
siding Graduates; which was about three Weeks after the 
College-Orders began. ... 

Every Student must rise in the morning, at farthest by 
half an hour after five; the grammar SchoUars being most 
of them small, and lodging also in Town at some Distance 
from the College, are, in Winter, excused from attending 
morning Prayrs. 

The Bell rings at five, after which there is an Intermission 
of half an hour, that everyone may have time to dress, at 
the end of which it rings again, and Prayrs begin; And lest 
any should plead that he did not hear the Bell, the Servant 
who rings, goes to every Door and beats till he wakens the 
Boys, which leaves them without Excuse. . . . 

After morning Prayrs, we can, now in the Winter, study 
an hour by candle Light every morning. 

We breakfast at eight; from Eight to nine, is time of our 
own, to play or exercise. 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 195 

At nine the Bell rings for Recitation, after which we study 
till one when the Bell rings for Dinner — . . . 

After dinner till three we have Liberty to go out at Pleas- 
ure. From three til' five we study, when the Bell rings for 
evening Prayrs. 

We sup at seven; At nine the Bell rings for study; And a 
Tutor goes through College, to see that every Student is in 
his own room ; if he finds that any are absent, or more in any 
Room than belong there, he notes them down and the day 
following calls them to an Account. 

After nine any may go to bed, but to go before is reproach- 
ful. 

No Student is allowed, on any pretence, Sickness only ex- 
cepted, to be absent on Sunday, from public Worship: We 
have two Sermons every Sabbath: One at eleven in the 
morning, in the Church; and the other at three in the After- 
noon, in the College Hall. I am indeed much pleased with 
Dr. Witherspoon and think his Sermons almost inimitable. 

We rise on Sabbath mornings and have Prayrs as usual, . . . Number of 

There are upwards of an hundred now in College including 
the grammar Scholars: The present Senior Class consists of 
ten: the Junior of twenty-eight: the Sophimore of twenty- 
five: And the Freshman of eighteen : In the School there are 
about twenty-five. 

I am, through divine goodness, very well, and more recon- 
ciled to rising in the Morning so early than at first. . . . 

From, Sir, your dutiful Son. 

P. FiTHIAN. 

Written at Princeton 
Jan. 13. Anno 1772. 
Very Dear, and Much Respected Father, 

Through the distinguished Kindness of Heaven, I am in 

good Health, and have much Cause to be delighted with my 

Lot. I would not change my condition, nor give up the 

Prospect I have before me, on any Terms almost whatever. 

I am not much hurried this Winter with my Studies; but 



students. 



196 



Readings in American History 



College 
discipline. 



I am trying to advance myself in an acquaintance with my 
fellow-Creatures; and with the Labours of the '"Mighty 
Dead." 

I am sorry that 1 may inform you, that two of our Members 
were expelled from the College yesterday; not from Drunk- 
enness, nor Fighting, not for Swearing, nor Sabbath-Breaking; 
But, they were sent from this Seminary, where the greatest 
Pains and Care are taken to cultivate and encourage Decency, 
and Honesty, and Honour, for stealing Hens! Shameful, 
mean, unmanly Conduct! 

If a Person were to judge of the generality of Students by 
the Conduct of such earthborn insatiate Helluo's; or by the 
detested Character of wicked Individuals, (which is generally 
soonest and most extensively propagated, and known abroad) 
how terrible an Idea must he have! . . . 

P. FiTHIAN. 



A Virginia 
tutor. 



Decemr. 1st. 1773. 
Rev'd Sir. (Rev. Enoch Green). 

... I set out from home the 20th. of Octr. and arrived at 
the Hon: Robert Carters, of Nominy, in Westmoreland 
County, the 2Sth. I began to teach his children the first of 
November. He has two sons, and one nephew; the oldest 
son is turned of seventeen, and is reading Salust and the 
Greek grammar; the others are about fourteen, and in Eng- 
lish grammar, and arithmetic. He has besides, five daughters 
which 1 am to teach english, the eldest is turned of fifteen and 
is reading the spectator; she is employed two days in every 
week in learning to play the Forte-Piano, and Harpsichord — 
the others are smaller and learning to read and spell. Mr. 
A Virginia Carter is one of the Councillors in the general coin-t at Will- 
iamsburg, and is possesst of as great, perhaps the clearest 
fortune according to the estimation of people here, of any 
man in Virginia. He seems to be a good scholar, even in 
classical learning, and is a remarkable one in English grammar; 
and notwithstanding his rank, which in general seems to 
countenance indulgence to children, both himself and Mrs. 



planter. 



Formation of the Federal Comsiitut'ion 197 

Carter have a manner of instructing and dealing with chil- 
dren far superior, I may say it with confidence, to any I have 
ever seen, in any place, or in any family. They keep them 
in perfect subjection to themselves, and never pass over an 
occasion of reproof; and I blush for many of my acquaint- 
ances when I say that the children are more kind and com- 
plaisant to the servants who constantly attend them than we 
are to our superiors in age and condition. Mr. Carter has 
an overgrown library of Books of which he allows me the free 
use. It consists of a general collection of law books, all the 
Latin and Greek Classicks, vast number of books on Divinity 
chiefly by writers who are of the established Religion; he has 
the works of almost all the late famous writers, as Locke, Ad- 
dison, Young, Pope, Swift, Dryden etc. in Short, Sir, to 
speak moderately, he has more than eight times your number 
— His eldest Son, who seems to be a Boy of genius and appli- 
cation is to be sent to Cambridge University, but I believe 
will go through a course either in Philadelphia or Princeton 
College first. As to what is said concerning Virginia that it 
is difficult to avoid being corrupted with the manners of the 
people, I believe it is founded wholly in a mistaken notion 
that persons must, when here frequent all promiscuous as- 
semblies; but this is so far from truth that anyone who does 
practice it, tho' he is accused of no crime, loses at once his 
character; so that either the manners have been lately 
changed, or the report is false, for he seems now to me best 
esteemed and most applauded who attends to his business, 
whatever it be, with the greatest diligence. . . . 

Friday 18, 1774. 

Mr. Carter now possesses 60,000 acres of Land, and about a Virginia 
600 Negroes — But his Estate is much divided, and lies in 
almost every county in this Colony; He has Lands in the 
Neighbourhood of Williamsburg, and an elegant and Spacious 
House in that City — He owns a great part of the well known 
Iron-works near Baltimore in Maryland — And he has one or 
jnore considerable P'arms not far from Anapolis. 



estate. 



198 Readings in American History 

. . . Out of these Lands, which are situated so remote 
from each other in various parts of these two large Provinces, 
Virginia and Maryland, Mr. Carter has chosen for the place 
of his habitation a high spot of ground in Westmoreland 
County at the Head of the Navigation of the River Nomini, 
where he has erected a large elegant House, at a vast expence, 
which commonly goes by the name of Nomini-Hall. This 
House is built with Brick, but the bricks have been covered 
with strong lime mortar; so that the building is now perfectly 
white; it is seventy-six Feet long from East to West; and 
forty -four wide from North to South, two Stories high; 

. . . The north side I think is the most beautiful of all; 
In the upper Story is a Row of seven Windows with eighteen 
lights apiece; and below six windows, with the like number 
of lights; besides a large Portico in the middle, at the sides 
of which are two windows each with eighteen Lights. — At 
the west end are no Windows — The number of Lights in all 
is five hundred, and forty nine — ... As this House is 
large, and stands on a high piece of Land it may be seen 
a considerable distance; I have seen it at the Distance of 
six miles — 

At equal Distances from each corner of this Building stand 
four other considerable Houses, which I shall next a little 
describe. First, at the North-East corner, and at 100 yards 
Distance stands the School House; at the North- West corner, 
and at the same Distance stands the stable; at the South- 
West corner, and at the same Distance stands the Coach- 
House; and lastly, at the South-East corner, and at an equal 
distance stands the Work-House. These four Houses are the 
corner of a Square of which the Great-House is the center — 

. . . Due East of the Great House are two Rows of tall, 
flourishing, beautiful. Poplars, beginning on a Line drawn 
from the school to the W' ash-House; these Rows are some- 
thing wider than the House, and are about 300 yards long, 
at the Eastermost end of which is the great Road leading 
through Westmoreland to Richmond. These Rows of Pop- 
lars form an extremely pleasant avenue, and at the Road, 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 199 

I through them, the House appears most romantic, at the same 
I time that it is truly elegant — The area of the Triangle made 
by the Wash-House, Stable, and School-House is perfectly 
' levil, and designed for a bowling-green, laid out in rectangular 
walks which are paved with Brick, and covered over with 
burnt Oyster-Shells. In the other Triangle, made by the 
Wash-House, Stable, and Coach-House is the Kitchen, a well- 
built House, as large as the School-House; Bake-House; 
Dairy; Store-House and several other small Houses ; all which 
stand due West, and at a small distance from the great 
House, and form a little handsome Street. These Buildings 
stand about a quarter of a Mile from a Fork in the River 
Nomini, one Branch of which runs on the East of us, on which 
are two mills; one of them belongs to Mr. Turburville the 
other to Mr. Washington (John Augustine), both within a 
mile — another branch of the River runs on the West of us on 
which and at a small distance above the House stands Mr. 
Carters merchant mill, . . . to go to the mill from the House 
we descend. I imagine about an 100 feet: the Dam is so 
broad that two carriages may pass conveniently on it; and 
the pond from twelve to Eighteen Foot water— At the fork 
Mr. Carter has a granary, where he lands his Wheat for the 
Mill, Iron from the Works etc. — . . . 

Monday November 1st. 1773. 

We began School — The School consists of eight — Two of a plan- 
Mr. Carter's sons — One Nephew — and five Daughters — The gchooi 
eldest Son is reading Salust: Gramatical Exercises, and latin 
Grammar — The Second Son is reading english Grammar and 
Reading English: Writing and Cyphering in Subtraction — 
The Nephew is Reading and Writing as above; and Cipher- 
ing in Reduction — The eldest Daughter is reading the Spec- 
tator; Writing; and beginning to Cypher — the second is 
reading next out of the Spelling-Book, and beginning to write 
— The next is reading in the Spelling-Book — the fourth is 
Spelling in the beginning of the Spelling-Book — And the last 
is beginning her letters. . . . 



2(K) Readings in American History 

Thursday 4. 

Busy in School — To da,\' the two eldest daugnters. and sec- 
ond son attended the Dancing School. . . . 

Wednesday 10. 

Busy in School — The eldest Daughter taken off by her 
teacher in Music: Mr. Stadley who is learning her to play 
the Forte-piano. 

Thursday 25. 

Rode this morning to Richmond Court-House, where two 
Horses run for a purse of 500 Pounds: besides small Betts 
almost inumerable. . . . 

Thursday 7. 

Mr. Stadley Miss Priscilla's music master arrived this 
morning — He performed several pieces on the Violin. . . . 

Fryday 10. 

Miss Nancy is beginning on the Guitar. Ben finished 
reading Salusts Catiline Conspiracy. 

Sunday 12, 

Rode to Nominy-Church, parson Smith preached 15 min- 
utes — Advertisement at tlie church door dated Sunday De- 
cember 12th. Pork to be sold to-morrow at 20, per Hun- 
dred. — 

Monday 13. 

. . . Mr. Carter is practising this evening on the Guittar. 
He begins witii the Trumpet Minuet. He has a good Ear 
for Music; a vastly delicate Taste: and keeps good Instru- 
ments, he has here at Home a Harpischord, Forte-Piano, 
Harmonica, Guittar and German Flutes, and at Williams- 
burg, has a good organ, he himself also is indefatigable in the 
Practice. . . . 



Forination of the Federal Cuiistitution 



201 



Virginia 
hospital- 
ity. 



Fruit- 
growing. 



Sunday 3. 

. . . This being Easter-Sunday, all the Parish seemed to 
meet together High, Low, black, white all come out — . . . 
After Sermon I rode to Mr. Turburville's. There dined with 
him, Ladies Mrs. Carter, and Mrs. George Turburville: Gen- 
tlemen, Colonel Carter, Squire-Lee, Mr. Cunningham, and 
Mr. Jennings, Merchants; Mr. George Lee and Ben Carter 
and myself — We had an elegant dinner; Beef and greens; 
roast-Pig; fine boil'd Rock-fish, Pudding, Cheese etc. — 
Drink: good Porter-Beer, Cyder, Rum, and Brandy Toddy. 
The Virginians are so kind one can scarce know how to dis- 
pense with or indeed accept their kindness shown in such a 
variety of instances. — 

. . . The country begins to put on her Flowery Garment, 
and appear in gaity — The apricots are in their fullest Bloom ; 
Peaches also, and Plumbs, and several sorts of Cheries are 
blossoming; as I look from my window and see groves of 
Peach Trees on the Banks of Nomini (for the orchards here 
are very large) and other Fruit trees in Blossom. . . . 

After supper I had a long conversation with Mrs. Carter The siav 
concerning negroes in Virginia, and find that she esteems fj^^'^"'^ 
their value at no higher rate than I do. We both concluded, 
(I am pretty certain that the conclusion is just) that if in 
Mr. Carter's, or in any Gentlemans Estate, all the Negroes 
should be sold, and the money put to Interest in safe hands, 
and let the lands which these Negroes now work be wholly 
uncultivated, the bare Interest of the price of the Negroes 
would be a much greater yearly income than what is now re- 
ceived from their working the Lands, making no allowance 
at all for the trouble and risk of the masters as to the Crops, 
and Negroes. — How much greater then must be the value of 
an estate here if these poor enslaved Africans were all in their 
native desired Country, and in their Room industrious Ten- 
ants, who being born in freedom, by a laudable care, would 
not only enrich their Landlords, but would raise a hardy Off- 
spring to be the Strength and the honour of the Colony. . . . 



202 Readings in A merican Ilisfonj 



43. Treatment of Prisoners, 1785 

Benjamin Harrison was governor of Virginia, 1783-6. The fol- 
lowing order for the treatment of prisoners was taken from his 
Letter Book, pp. 452, 453. State Library, Richmond, Virginia. 

In Council March 28, 1785. 
Sir: ^ 

You are to take under your care the prisoners Francis Wil- 
son, Bartholomew Taylor, Christopher Clarke, Thomas Hum- 
phries, and Philip Miles from the hands of William Rose, 
Gaoler and to cause them to labor upon such streets and 
ways of communication in the City of Richmond as the Direct- 
ors of the Public buildings shall point out to you from time 
to time. The said Davis for five years and all the others for 
three years. You are to observe such a Degree of humanity 
towards these people as their condition will permit in every- 
thing that relates to them. You will take the necessary 
measures to pre\'ent escapes in order to do this you are to 
cause them to wear such irons as are absolutely necessary 
for that purpose. Particular care must be taken that they 
have plenty of wholesome Food and that their Clothes be 
warm and comfortable — two Duffele Blankets must be had 
for each man, and they are to lodge of nights in the public 
Jail. 

You are to take care that their cloaths and lodging be 
kept clean and that their labor be confined to the usual hours 
and good weather. In case of sickness you are to apply to 
Doctor Fonshee for medical assistance. From the state of 
confinement in which the people have remained lately, it is 
necessary for you to be careful that they avoid such a De- 
, gree of exposure and labor, as may be safely practiced by 
persons who have not been confined. Their progress to a full 
share of la!)or nmst be gradual. — You are to see that they 
be not restrained from attending divine worship and attend 
them accordingly. You arc to apply to the Directors of the 
public buildings for food for the Laborers — Clothes will be 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 203 

furnished by Colo. Meriwether — and as a full compensation 
for your services herein you are to be allowed one hundred 
pounds per annum to be paid quarterly out of the Contin- 
gent Fund. 

I am etc. 

B. H. 

44. A Trip to Mt. Vernon and North Carolina 

During the period of the Revolution and the first third of the 
nineteenth century Elkanah Watson, a noted traveler in both Eu- 
rope and America recorded his observations on the men he had met 
and incidents connected with his travels. He was a careful ob- 
server, and was especially interested in the construction of canals 
and the development of agriculture. — (Elkanah Watson, Men and 
Times of the Revolution, 262-264 passi))i. 1856.) 

1 had feasted my imagination foi several days in the near Meeting 
prospect of a visit to Mount \'ernon, the seat of Washing- Washing- 
ton. No pilgrim ever approached Mecca with greater enthu- ton. 
siasm. I arrived there in the afternoon of January 23d, '85. 
I was the bearer of the letter from Gen. Green, with another 
from Col. Fitzgerald, one of the former aids of Washington, 
and also the books from Granville Sharp. Although assured 
that these credentials would secure me a respectful reception, 
I trembled with awe as I came into the presence of this great 
man. I found hira at table with Mrs. Washington and his 
private family, and was received in the native dignity and 
with that urbanity so peculiarly combined in the character 
of a soldier and eminent private gentleman. He soon put 
me at ease by unbending in a free and affable conversation. 

The cautious reserve which wnsdom and policy dictated 
whilst engaged in rearing the glorious fabric of our indepen- 
dance, was evidently the result of consummate prudence, and 
not characteristic of his nature. Although I had frecjuently 
seen him in the progress of the revolution and had corre- 
sponded with him from France in '81, and '82, this was the 
first occasion on which I had contemplated him in his pri- 
vate relations. I observed a peculiarity in his smile, which 



204 Readings in American History 

seemed to illuminate his eye; his whole countenance beamed 
with intelligence, while it commanded confidence and re- 
spect. The gentleman who had accompanied me from Alex- 
andria, left in the evening, and I remained alone in the en- 
joyment of the society of Washington, for two of the richest 
days of my life. I saw him reaping the reward of his illus- 
trious deeds, in the quiet shade of his beloved retirement. 
He was at the matured age of fifty-three. Alexander and 
Caesar both died before they had reached that period of life, 
and both had immortalized their names. How much stronger 
and nobler the claims of Washington to immortality! In the 
impulses of mad and selfish ambition, they acquired fame by 
wading to the conquest of the world through seas of blood. 
Washington, on the contrary, was parsimonious of the blood 
of his countrymen, and stood forth, the pure and virtuous 
champion of their rights, and formed for them (not himself) 
a mighty empire. 
Personal- To have communed with such a man in the bosom of his 
WashinK- fs^'iii^y* I shall always regard as one of the highest privileges 
ton. of my life. 1 foimd him kind, and benignant in the domestic 

circle, beloved and re\ered by all around him; agreeably so- 
cial without ostentation; delighting in anecdote and adven- 
tures without assumption; his domestic arrangements har- 
monious and systematic. His servants seemed to watch his 
eye, and to anticipate his every wish; hence a look was equiv- 
alent to a command. His .servant Billy, the faithful com- 
panion of his military career, was always at his side. Smil- 
ing content animated and beamed on every countenance in 
his presence. 

The first evening I spent under the wing of his hospitality, 
we sat a full hour at table by ourselves without the least in- 
terruption, after the family had retired. 1 was extrenily op- 
pressed by a severe cold and excessive coughing, contracted 
by the exposure of a harsh winter joiu'ney. He pre.ssed me 
to use .some reinedi(>s, ))ut I declined doing so. As usual 
after retiring, my coughing increa.sed. When some time had 
elapsed, the door of my room was gently opened, and on 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 205 

drawing my bed curtains, to my utter astonishment, I be- 
held Washington himself standing at my bedside, with a 
bowl of hot tea in his hand. I was mortified and distressed 
beyond measure. This little incident occurring in common 
life with an ordinary man, would not have been noticed; ))ut 
as a trait of the benevolence and private virtue of Washing- 
ton deserves to be recorded. 

He modestly waived all allusions to the events, in which Washing- 
he had acted so glorious and conspicuous a part. Much of [""gstTn 
his conversation had reference to the interior country, and internal 
to the opening of the navigation of the Potomac, by canals n,ents. 
and locks, at the Seneca, the Great and Little Falls. His 
mind seemed to be deeply absorbed by that object, then in 
earnest contemplation. He allowed me to take minutes 
from his former journals on this subject, of which the foUow- 
lowing is a partial summary. 

"The stock of the company is divided into five hundred 
shares at £50 sterling each. The canal company has been 
incorporated by both Maryland and Virginia." (Washington 
had accepted the Presidency). "The preliminary prepa- 
rations are in full train, to commence operations in the 
ensuing Spring, not only to remove the obstacles in the 
Potomac to a boat navigation from Georgetown to Fort 
Cumberland a distance of one hundred and ninety miles, but 
to the ultimate construction of a canal to Lake Erie, which 
is intended not only to give a direction of the fur trade 
from Detroit to Alexandria, but to attract the eventual trade 
of the country north of the Ohio which now slumbers in a 
state of nature." This scheme was worthy the compre- 
hensive mind of Washington. 

To demonstrate the practicability and the policy of divert- 
ing the trade of the immence interior world yet unexplored 
to Atlantic cities, especially in view of the idea that the 
Mississippi would be opened by Spain was his constant and 
favorite theme. . . . 

Since my travels in 1779, I had been deeply and con- 
stantly impressed with the importance of constructing canals 



206 



Readings in American History 



to connect the various waters of America. This con\iction 
was confirmed by the examination of numerous canals in 
Europe, and travelling extensively on several of them. Hear- 
ing little else for two days from the persuasi\e tongue of this 
great man, I confess completely infected me with the canal 
mania, and enkindled all my enthusiasm. . . . 

During this period of my residence in North Carolina, the 
state was strongly convulsed by the agitation of the ques- 
tion of adopting the federal constitution. I embarked with 
great zeal and ardor, in advocating its adoption, personally 
and by numerous contributions to the press, in \'irginia and 

North Carolina. A baptist preacher named B , was a 

candidate for the State con\'ention, which was to decide, in 
that State, the great question of acceding to or rejecting the 

proposed Constitution. B was a prominent leader of 

the opposition, and with him I had been engaged in many 
warm personal discussions and in public correspondence. 

The week previous to the election, I was riding in com- 
pany with Major Murfee, who has been already introduced to 
the reader, and a Dr. Garvey, a warm hearted and energetic 
Irishman, several miles in the interior from Winton, where 
we noticed a paper pasted upon a tree, which read as follows: 
"Notice! — On Wednesday next, at three o'clock, all persons 
desirous of hearing the new Constitution explained, by Elder 

B 1, are requested to attend his church in the Woodlands, 

17th March 1788." The time appointed was only two days 
previous to the election. 

We felt indignant, at what we deemed an insidious attempt 
to deceive the community; and determined to be present in 
order to counteract his movement. On our arrival we found 
a horse hitched to every tree about the church, and the in- 
terior of the building crowded. We pressed our way into 
seats a little distance from the pulpit. B — r—t had been 
some time at his nefarious work, explaining the Constitution 
to suit his unhallowed purposes. He frequently cast a sus- 
picious and disconcerted eye upon our pew. He then began 
to explain the object of the ten miles square, as the con- 



Formation of the Federal Constitution 207 

templated seat of the government. "This, my friends," 
said the preacher, "will be walled in or fortified. Here an 
army of 50,000, or, perhaps 100,000, will be finally embodied, 
and will sally forth, and enslave the people, who will be 
gradually disarmed." This absurd assumption set our blood 
in fermentation, strongly excited already in party feeling. 
We consulted a moment, and agreed to possess ourselves of 
the seat directly under the pulpit, and make an effort to dis- 
cuss the subject, or break up the meeting. We arose to- 
gether, Garvey with the Constitution in his hand, supported 
by Murfee on his right, and myself on his left. Garvey 
turned towards B 1, and said, in a loud voice: — 

"Sir, as to the ten miles square, you are" — here he was 
interrupted by a general movement and buzz, which in- 
stantly swelled into a perfect uproar. At this crisis we were 
in a most critical situation, and only saved from violence by 
the personal popularity of Murfee, who was universally be- 
loved. We were glad to pass out with the torrent, gain our 
horses, and be off. We however attained our object — the 
meeting was dissolved. 

The next day Garvey and myself planned and executed a 
caricature; and as it was a new exhibition among the people, 
we hoped it would ha\e a good effect at the polls. A clergy- 
man was represented in a pulpit, dressed in his bands, with a 
label proceeding from his mouth having this inscription: — 
"And lo, he brayeth!" This we commited to some resolute 
fellows, with instructions to post it up at the door of the 
courthouse, on the opening of the polls; they engaged to 

defend and protect it. Some of B t's friends stung to the 

quick by the sarcasm, attempted to pull it down. A gen- 
eral battle ensued. This obstructed as we desired, the voting. 
Candles were lighted in the courthouse; these were extin- 
guished in the melee and both parties in great confusion were 
left in the dark, literally as well as politically. I embraced 

the oportunity of taking French leave. B 1 gained the 

election, to our great annoyance, and the Constitution was 
rejected for that year by North-Carolina. 



CHAPTER XIV 

ORGANIZATION OF THE NEW GOVERNMENT 



45. Inaugur\tion of President Washington 

(David Ramsay, The History of the American Revolution, 344, 
346 passim. London, 1793.) 

Though great diversity of opinions had prexailed about 
the new constitution, there was but one opinion aliout the 
person who should be appointed its supreme executive officer. 
The people, as well anti-federalists as federalists, (for by 
these names the parties for and against the new constitution 
were called) unanimously turned their eyes on the late com- 
mander of their armies, as the most proper person to be 
their first President. Perhaps there was not a well-informed 
individual in the United States, (Mr. Washington himself 
only excepted) who was not anxious that he should be called 
to the executive administration of the proposed new plan of 
government. Unambitious of further honors, he had re- 
tired to his farm in Virginia, and hoped to be excused from 
all further public service; but his country called him by an 
unanimous vote to fill the highest station in its gift. That 
honest zeal for the public good, which had uniformly influ- 
enced him to devote both his time and talents to the serv- 
ice of his country, got the better of his love of retirement, 
and induced him once more to engage in the great business 
of making a nation happy. The intelligence of his election 
being communicated to him, while on his farm in Virginia, 
he set out soon after for New York. On his way thither, the 
road was crowded with numbers anxious to see the Man of 
the people. Escorts of militia, and of gentlemen of the first 

208 



Organization of the New Government 209 

character and station, attended him from State to State, and 
he was everywhere received with the highest honors which 
a grateful and admiring people could confer. Addresses of 
congratulation were presented to him by the inhabitants of 
almost every place of consequence through which he passed, 
to all of which he returned such modest, unassuming answers 
as were in every respect suitable to his situation. So great 
were the honors with which he was loaded, that they could 
scarcely have failed to produce haughtiness in the mind of 
any ordinary man; but nothing of the kind was ever dis- 
covered in this extraordinary personage. On all occasions 
he behaved to all men with the affability of one citizen to an- 
other. He was truly great in deserving the plaudits of his 
country, but much greater in not being elated with them. 

Of the numerous addresses which' were presented on this 
occasion, one subscribed by Dennis Ramsay, the mayor of 
Alexandria, in the name of the people of that city, who were 
the neighbors of Mr. Washington, was particularly and uni- 
versally admired. It was in the following words: 

** To George W ashington , Esq., President of the United States, etc. 

" Again your country commands your care. Obedient to 
its wishes, unmindful of your ease, we see you again relin- 
quishing the bliss of retirement; and this too, at a period 
of life, when nature itself seems to authorize a preference of 
repose ! 

"Not to extol your glory as a soldier; not to pour forth 
our gratitude for past services; not to acknowledge the jus- 
tice of the unexampled honor which has been conferred upon 
you by the spontaneous and unanimous suffrage of three 
millions of freemen, in your election to the supreme magis- 
tracy; nor to admire the patriotism which directs your con- 
duct, do your neighbors and friends now address you ; themes 
less splendid, but more endearing, impress our minds. The 
first and best of citizens must leave us; our aged must lose 
their ornament; our youth their model; our agriculture its 
improver; our commerce its friend; our infant academy its 



210 Readings in American Hutory 

protector; our poor their benefactor; and the interior navi- 
gation of the Potomac (an event replete with the most ex- 
tensive utihty, already, hy your unremitted exertions, brought 
into partial use) its institutor and promoter, 

"Farewell! 

"Farewell! . . . Go! and make a grateful people happy; 
a people, who will be doubly grateful, when they contemplate 
this recent sacrifice for their interest. 

"To that Being, who maketh and unmaketh at his will, 
we commend you; and after the accomplishment of the 
arduous business to which you are called, may he restore 
you to us again, the best of men, and the most beloved fellow 
citizen!" 

To this Mr. Washington returned the following answer: 

"Gentlemen, 

" Although I ought not to conceal, yet I cannot describe 
the painful emotions which I felt in being called upon to de- 
termine whether I would accept or refuse the Presidency of 
the United States. The unanimity in the choice; the opinion 
of my friends; communicated from different parts of Europe, 
as well as from America ; the apparent wish of those who were 
not entirely satisfied with the constitution in its present form; 
and an ardent desire on my own part to be instrumental in 
connecting the good will of my countrymen towards each 
other; have induced an acceptance. Those who knew me 
best (and you, my fellow citizens, are from your situation in 
that number) know better than any others, my love of re- 
tirement is so great, that no earthly consideration, short of 
a conviction of duty, could have prevailed upon me to depart 
from my resolution, 'never more to take any share in trans- 
actions of a public nature.' For, at my age, and in my cir- 
cumstances, what prospects or advantages could I propose 
to myself, from eml)arking again on the tempestuous and un- 
certain ocean of public life? 

" I do not feel myself under the necessity of making public 



Organization of the New Government 211 

declarations, in order to convince you, Gentlemen, of my at- 
tachment to yourselves, and regard for your interests; the 
whole tenor of my life has been open to your inspection; and 
my past actions, rather than my present declarations, must 
be the pledge of my future conduct. 

" In the mean time, I thank you most sincerely for the ex- 
pressions of kindness contained in your valedictory address. 
It is true, just after having bid adieu to my domestic con- 
nections, this tender proof of your friendships is but too well 
calculated still farther to awaken my sensibility, and increase 
my regret at parting from the enjoyment of private life. 

" All that now remains for me, is to commit m3self and you 
to the protection of that beneficent Being, who on a former 
occasion hath happily brought us together, after a long and 
distressing separation ; perhaps the same gracious Providence 
will again indulge me. Unutterable sensations must then 
be left to more expressive silence; while from an aching heart, 
I bid you all, my affectionate friends, and kind neighbors, 
farewell I" 

Gray's-Bridge over the Schuylkill, which Mr. Washington Journey 
had to pass, was highly decorated with laurels and evergreens, deiphla!" 
At each end of it were erected magnificent arches composed 
of laurels, emblematical of the ancient Roman triumphal 
arches; and on each side of the bridge was a laurel shrubbery. 
As Mr. Washington passed the bridge, a youth ornamented 
with sprigs of laurel, assisted by machinery, let drop above 
his head, though unperceived by him, a civic crown of laurel. 
Upwards of 20,000 citizens lined the fences, fields, and ave- 
nues, between the Schuylkill and Philadelphia. Through 
these he was conducted to the city, by a numerous and re- 
spectable body of the citizens, where he partook of an elegant 
entertainment provided for him. The pleasures of the day 
were succeeded by a handsome display of fireworks in the 
evening. 

When Mr. Washington crossed the Delaware, and landed 
on the Jersey shore, he was saluted with three cheers by the 



212 Readings in American History 

inhabitants of tlie vicinity. When he came to the brow of the 
hill, on his way to Trenton, a triumphal arch was erected on 
the bridge, by the direction of the ladies of the place. The 
crown of the arch was hif:;hly ornamented with imperial 
laiu'cls ami Howers, and on it was displayed in large figures, 
December 2()th, 177(3. On the sweep of the arch beneath 
was this inscription, "The defender of the Mothers will also 
protect their Daughters." On the north side were ranged 
a number of young girls dressed in white, with garlands of 
flowers on their heads, and baskets of flowers on their arms; 
in the second row stood the young ladies, and behind them the 
married ladies of the town. The instant he passed the arch, 
the young girls began to sing the following ode: 

"Welcome, mighty chief, once more, 

Welcome to this grateful shore: 

Now no mercenary foe 
. Aims again the fatal blow, 

Aims at thee the fatal blow. 

Virgins fair, and matrons grave, 

These thy conquering arm did save, 

Build for thee trium{)hal bowers; 

Strew, ye fair, his way with flowers, 

Strew your Hero's way with flowers." 

As they sung the last lines, they strewed their flowers on 
the road before their beloved deliverer. His situation on 
this occasion, contrasted with what he had in Dec. 177(5 felt 
on the same spot, when the affairs of America were at the 
lowest ebb of depression, filled him with sensations that cannot 
be described. He was rowed across the bay from Elizabeth- 
Town to New-York in an elegant barge by thirteen pilots. 
All the vessels in the harbour hoisted their flags. Stairs were 
erected and decorated for his reception. On his landing, 
universal joy diffused itself through every order of the people, 
and he was received and congratulated by the governor of 
the State, and officers of the corporation. He was conductefl 
from the landing-place to the house which had been fitted 
up for his reception, and was followed by an elegant proces- 



Organization of the New Government 213 

sion of militia in their uniforms, and by great numbers of 
citizens. In the evening, the houses of the inhabitants were 
brilliantly illuminated. A day was fixed, soon after his ar- The inau- 
rival, for his taking the oath of office, which was in the follow- gyration, 
ing words: " I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute 
the office of President of the United States, and will, to the 
l)est of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend, the consti- 
tution of the United States." On this occasion he was wholly 
clothed in American manufactures. In the morning of the 
day appointed for this purpose, the clergy of different de- 
nominations assembled their congregations in their respective 
places of worship, and offered up public prayers for the Presi- 
dent and people of the United States. About noon, a proces- 
sion, followed by a multitude of citizens, moved from the 
President's house to Federal Hall. When they came within 
a short distance from the Hall, the troops formed a line on 
both sides of the way, through which Mr. Washington, accom- 
panied by the Vice-President, Mr. John Adams, passed into 
the Senate Chamber. Immediately after, accompanied by 
both houses, he went into the gallery fronting Broad-Street, 
and before them, and an immense concourse of citizens, took 
the oath prescribed by the constitution, which was adminis- 
tered by R. R. Livingston, the Chancellor of the State of 
New- York. An awful silence prevailed among the spectators 
during this part of the ceremony. It was a minute of the 
most sublime political joy. The Chancellor then proclaimed 
him President of the United States. This was answered by 
the discharge of 13 guns, and by the effusions of shouts, from 
near 10,000 grateful and affectionate hearts. The President 
bowed most respectfully to the people, and the air resounded 
again with their acclamations. He then retired to the Senate 
Chamber, where he made the following speech to both houses: 

" Felloiv Citizens of the Senate, and of the House of Repre- inaugural 
sentatives. ' ' ' ^^^'■^^^• 

"Among the vicissitudes incident to life, no event could 
have filled me with greater anxieties, than that of which the 



214 Readings in .imerican History 

notification was transmitted by your order, and received on 
the 14th day of the present month. On the one hand, I was 
summoned by my country, whose voice I can never hear but 
with veneration and love, from a retreat which I had chosen 
with the fondest predilection, and in my flattering hopes, with 
an immutable decision, as the asylum of my declining years; 
a retreat which was rendered every day more necessary as 
well as more dear to me, by the addition of habit to inclina- 
tion, and of frequent interruptions in my health, to the 
gradual waste committed on it by time. . . . On the other 
hand, the magnitude and difficulty of the trust to which the 
voice of my country called me, being sufficient to awaken in 
the wisest and most experienced of her citizens, a distrustful 
scrutiny into his qualifications, could not but overwhelm with 
despondence, one, who, inheriting inferior endowments from 
nature, and unpractised in the duties of civil administra- 
tion, ought to be peculiarly conscious of his own deficiencies. 
In this conflict of emotions, all I dare aver, is, that it has been 
my faithful study to collect my duty from a just appreciation 
of every circumstance by which it might be affected. All I 
dare hope, is, that, if in executing this task, I have been too 
much swayed by a grateful remembrance of former instances, 
or by an affectionate sensibility to this transcendent proof of 
the confidence of my fellow-citizens; and have thence too 
little consulted my incapacity as well as disinclination, for 
the weighty and untried cares before me; my error will be 
palliated by the motives which misled me, and its conse- 
quences be judged by my country, with some share of the 
partiality in which they originated. . . . 

"To the preceeding observations I have one to add, which 
will be most properly addressed to the House of Representa- 
tives; it concerns my.self, and will, therefore, be as brief as 
possible. 

"When I was first honoured with a call into the service of 
my country, then on the eve of an arduous struggle for its 
liberties, the light in which I contemplated my duty, required, 
that I should renounce every pecuniary compensation. From 



Organization of the New Government 215 

this resolution I have in no instance departed. And being 
still under the impressions which produced it, I must decline 
as inapplical)le to myself, any share in tiie personal emolu- 
ments, which may be indispensably included in a permanent 
provision for the executive department; and must accordingly 
pray, that the pecuniary estimates for the station in which I 
am placed, may, during my continuance in it, be limited to 
such actual expenditures as the public good may be thought 
to require. 

"Having thus imparted to you my sentiments, as they have 
been awakened by the occasion which brings us together — 
I shall take my present leave; but not without resorting 
once more to the benign Parent of the human race, in hum- 
ble supplication, that since he has been pleased to favour 
the American people with opportunities for deliberating in 
perfect tranquillity, and dispositions for deciding with unpar- 
alleled unanimity on a form of government, for the security 
of their union, and the advancement of their happiness; so 
his Divine blessing may be equally conspicuous in the en- 
larged views, the temperate consultations, and the wise meas- 
ures on which the success of this government must depend." 

The President and Congress then attended on divine 
service. 

In the evening a very ingenious and splendid shew of fire- other fea- 
works was exhibited. Betwixt the fort and the bowling ^^e^nau- 
green stood conspicuous, a superb and brilliant transparent giiration. 
painting, in the center of which was the portrait of the Presi- 
dent, represented under the emblem of fortitude; on his 
right hand was Justice, representing the Senate of the United 
States; and on his left. Wisdom, representing the House of 
Representatives. 
v^. This memorable day completed the organization of the 
new constitution. By this establishment the rising genera- 
tion will have an opportunity of observing the result of an 
experiment in politics, which before has never been fairly 
made. The experience of former ages has given many mel- 



^16 



Headings in American History 



ancholy proofs, that the popular governments have seldom 
answered in practice to the theories and warm wishes of 
their admirers. The present inhabitants of independent 
America now have an opportunity to wipe off this aspersion, 
to assert the dignity of human nature, and the capacity of 
mankind for self-government. . . . 



46. Forms and Ceremonies Connected with the In- 
auguration OF THE Government 

.Senator William Maclay, of Pennsylvania, was an ardent Anti- 
Federalist. During the two years he was in the Senate, 1789-91, he 
kept a journal, which was not intended for publication. At times 
he was unduly severe in his criticisms of political opponents. De- 
scriptions of debates in the Senate and of the forms and ceremonies 
of that period are given in a most graphic manner. — (William Mac- 
laj', Journal (edited by Edgar S. Maclay), 7, 69, 208 passim. With 
permission of D. Appleton & Co., New York, 1890.) 

30th April, (1789) Thursday. — This is a great, important 
day. Goddess of etiquette, assist me while I describe it. 
The Senate stood adjourned to iialf after eleven o'clock. 
About ten dressed in my best clothes; went for Mr. Morris' 
lodgings, but met his son, who told me that his father would 
not be in town until Saturday. Turned into the Hall. The 
crowd already great. The Senate met. The Mce-President 
rose in the most solemn manner. . . . "Gentlemen, I wish 
for the direction of the Senate. The President will, I sup- 
pose, address the Congress. How shall I beha\e? How 
shall we receive it? Shall it be standing or sitting?" 

Here followed a considerable deal of talk from him which 
I could make nothing of. Mr. Lee began with the House 
of Commons (as is usual with him), then the House of Lords; 
then the King, and then back again. The result of his in- 
formation was, that the Lords sat, and the Commons stood, 
on the delivery of the King's speech. Mr. Izard got up and 
told how often he had been in the House of Parliament. He 
said a great deal of what he had seen there. (He) made. 



Organization of the Nea' Government -17 

however, this sagacious (hscovery, that the Coininons stood 
because they had no seats to sit on, being arrived at the 
bar of the House of Lords. It was discovered after some 
time that the King sat, too, and had his robes and crown on. 

Mr. Adams got up again, and said he had been very often, 
indeed, at the ParUament on those occasions, but there was 
always such a crowd, and Uidies aU:>ng, he could not say how 
it was. Mr. Carrol got up to declare that he thought it of 
no consequence, how it was in Great Britain — they were no 
rule to us, etc. But all at once the Secretary, who had been 
out, whispered to the Chair that the Clerk from the Repre- 
sentatives was at the door with a communication. Gentle- 
men of the Senate, how shall he be received? A silly kind 
of resolution of the committee on that business had been 
laid on the table some days ago. The amount of it was, 
that each House should conimunicate to the other what and 
how they chose; it concluded, however, something in this 
way; that everything should be done with all the propriety 
that was proper. The question was. Shall this be adopted, 
that we may know how to receive the Clerk? It was ob- 
jected; this will throw no light on the subject; it will leave 
you where you are. Mr. Lee brought the House of Com- 
mons before us again. He reprobated the rule; declared 
that the Clerk should not come within the bar of the House; 
that the proper mode was for the Sergeant-at-Arms, with 
the mace on his shoulder, to meet the Clerk at the door and 
recieve his communication; we are not, however, provided 
for this ceremonious wa.y of doing business, having neither 
mace nor Sergeant, nor Masters in Chancery, who carry 
down bills from the English Lords. 

Mr. Izard got up and labored unintelligibly to show the 
great distinction between a communication and a delivery 
of a thing; but he was not minded. Mr. Ellsworth showed 
plainly enough that if the Clerk was not permitted to de- 
liver the communication, the Speaker might as well send it 
enclosed. Repeated accounts came (that) the Speaker and 
Representatives were at the door. Confusion ensued; the 



218 



Readings in American History 



members left their seats: Mr. Reed rose and called the at- 
tention of the Senate to the neglect that had been shown 
to Mr. Thomson, late Secretary. Mr. Lee rose to answer 
him; but I could not hear one word he said. The Speaker 
was introduced, followed by the Representatives. Here we 
sat an hour and ten minutes before the President arrived — 
this delay was owing to Lee, Izard, and Dalton, who had 
stayed with us until the Speaker came in, instead of going 
to attend the President. The President advanced between 
the Senate and Representatives, bowing to each. He was 
placed in the chair by the Vice-President; the Senate, with 
their President, on the right, the Speaker and Representa- 
tives on his left. The Vice-President rose, and addressed a 
short sentence to him. The import of it was that he should 
now take the oath of office as President. He seemed to have 
forgot half of what he was to say, for he made a dead pause 
and stood for some time, to appearance, in a vacant mood. 
He finished with a formal bow, and the President was con- 
ducted out of the middle window into the gallery, and the 
oath was administered by the Chancellor. Notice that the 
business was done was communicated to the crowd hy the 
proclamation, etc., who gave three cheers, and repeated it on 
the President's bowing to them. 

As the company returned into the Chamber, the President 
took the chair and the Senate and Representatives, their 
seats. He rose and all rose, and addressed them. This great 
man was agitated and embarrassed more than ever he was 
by the leveled cannon or pointed musket. He trembled, and 
several times could scarce make out to read, though it must 
be supposed he had often read it before. He put part of the 
fingers of his left hand into the side of what I think the 
tailors call the fall of the breeches, 'changing the paper into 
his left [right] hand. After some time he then did the same 
with some of the fingers of his right hand. When he came 
to the words (til the world, he made a flourish with his right 
hand which left rather an ungainly impression. I sincerely, 
for my part, wished all set ceremony in the hands of the 



Organization of the New Government 



219 



dancing masters, and that this first of men had read off his 
address in the plainest manner, without ever taking his eyes 
from the paper; for I felt hurt that he was not first in every- 
thing. He was dressed in deep brown, with metal buttons, 
with an eagle on them, white stockings, a bag, and sword. 

From the hall there was a grand procession to St. Paul's 
Church, where prayers were said by the Bishop. The pro- 
cession was well conducted and without accident, as far as 
I have heard. The militia were all under arms, lined the 
street near the church, made a good figure, and behaved well. 

The Senate returned to their chamber after service, formed, 
and took up the address. Our Vice-President called it his 
most gracious speech. I cannot approve of this. A com- 
mittee was appointed on it — Johnson, Carrol, Patterson. 
Adjourned. In the evening there were grand fireworks. The 
Spanish Ambassador's house was adorned with transparent 
paintings; the French minister's house was illuminated, and 
had some transparent pieces; the Hall was grandly illumi- 
nated, and after all this the people went to bed. 

May 1st. — Attended at the Hall at eleven. The prayers 
were over and the minutes read. When we came to the 
minutes of the speech it stood, His Most Gracious Speech. 
I looked all around the Senate. Every countenance seemed 
to wear a blank. The Secretary was going on : I must speak 
or nobody would. "Mr. President, we have lately had a 
hard struggle for our liberty against kingly authority. The 
minds of men are still heated; everything related to that 
species of government is odious to the people. The words 
prefixed to the President's speech are the same that are usu- 
ally placed before the speech of his Britannic Majesty. I 
know they will give offense. I consider them as improper. 
I therefore move that they be struck out, and that it stand 
simply address or speech, as may be judged most suitable." 

Mr. Adams rose in his chair and expressed the greatest 
surprise that anything should be objected to on account of 
its being taken from the practice of that government under 
which we had lived so long and happily formerly; that he 



Procession 
to Saint 
Paul's 
Church. 



Inaugural 
night. 



Opposi- 
tion to for- 
malities. 



220 Rcadiitg.s in American Uislory 

was for a dignified and respectable government, and as far 
as he knew the sentiments of people they thought as he did; 
that for his part he was one of the first in the late contest 
[the Revolution], and, if he could have thought of this, he 
never ivould have drawn his sicord. . 

Painful as it was, I had to contend with the Chair. I ad- 
mitted that the people of the colonies (now States) had en- 
joyed formerly great happiness under that species of govern- 
ment, but the abuses of that Government under which they 
had to fear from that kind of government; that there had 
been a revolution in the sentiments of people respecting gov- 
ernment equally great as that which had happened in the 
Government itself; that even the modes of it were now ab- 
horred; that the enemies of the Constitution had objected 
to it the facility there would be of transition from it to 
kingly government and all the trappings and splendor of 
royalty; that if such a thing as this appeared on our min- 
utes, they would not fail to represent it as the first step of 
the ladder in the ascent to royalty. The Vice-President 
rose a second time, and declared that he had mentioned it 
to the Secretary; that he could not possibly conceive, that 
any person could take offense at it. . . . 

After the House adjourned the Vice-President took me to 
one side, declared how much he was for an efficient Govern- 
ment, how much he respected General Washington, and much 
of that kind. I told him I would yield to no person in re- 
spect to General Washington; that our common friends 
would perhaps one day inform him that I was not wanting 
in respect to himself [Adams]; that my wishes for an effi- 
cient Government were as high as any man's, and I begged 
him to believe that I did myself great violence when I op- 
posed him in the chair, and nothing but a sense of duty 
could force me to it. He got on the subject of checks to 
government and the balances of power. ... I caught at the 
last word, and said undoubtedly without a balance there could 
be no equilibrium, and so left him hanging in geometry. . . . 

May 18th, Monday. — Senate met. The address [to the 



Organisation of the Neiv Goveriimeni 221 

President] was read over, and we proceeded in carriages to Reply of 
the President's to present it. Having no part to act but to^tiie'"^'^^ 
that of a mute, I had nothing to embarrass me. We were President's 
received in an antechamber. Had some little difficulty about 
seats, as there were several wanting, from whence may be 
inferred that the President's major-domo is not the most 
provident, as our numbers were well enough known. We 
had not been seated more than three minutes when it was 
signified to us to wait on the President in his levee-room. 
The Vice-President went foremost, and the Senators followed 
without any particular order. We made our bows as we 
entered, and the Vice-President, having made a bow, began 
to read an address. He was much confused. The paper 
trembled in his hand, though he had the aid of both by 
resting it on his hat, which he held in his left hand. He 
read very badly all that was on the front pages. The turn- 
ing of the page seemed to restore him, and he read the rest 
with more propriety. This agitation was the more remark- 
able, as there were but twenty-two persons present and none 
of them strangers. 

The President took his reply out of his coat-pocket. He 
had his spectacles in his jacket-pocket, having his hat in his 
left hand and the paper in his right. He had too many ob- 
jects for his hands. He shifted his hat between his forearm 
and the left side of his breast. But taking his spectacles 
from the case embarrassed him. He got rid of this small 
distress by laying the spectacle-case on the chimney-piece. 
Colonel Humphreys stood on his right, Mr. Lear on his left. 
Having adjusted his spectacles, which was not very easy, 
considering the engagements on his hands, he read the reply 
with tolerable exactness and without much emotion. I 
thought he should have received us with spectacles on, which 
would have saved the making of some uncouth motions. 
Yet, on the whole, he did nearly as well as anyone could 
have done the same motions. Could the laws of etiquette 
have permitted him to have been disencumbered of his hat, 
it would have relieved him much. 



222 Readings in American History 

After having read his reply, he delivered the paper to the 
Vice-President with an easy inch'nation, bowed around to 
the company, and desired them to be seated. This pohte- 
ness seems founded on reason, for men after standing quite 
still for some time, want to sit, if it were for only a minute 
or two. The Vice-President did not comply, nor did he re- 
fuse, but stood so long that the President repeated the re- 
quest. He declined it by making a low bow, and retired. 
We made our bows, came out to the door, and waited till 
our carriages took us up. 

Returned [to the Hall] Senate formed. The address and 
reply were ordered on the minutes. 

Had agreed with sundry of our Pennsylvania friends to go 
to the levee. General Muhlenberg came to me and told me 
they would meet in the committee-room. We did so, and 
went to the levee. I went foremost, and left them to follow 
and do as well as they could. . . . The company was large 
for the room. The foreign ministers were there. Van Bukel, 
the Dutch Minister (for the first time, I suppose), gaudy as 
a peacock. Our Pennsylvanians withdrew before me. The 
President honored me with a particular tete-a-tete. " How 
will this weather suit your farming?" "Poorly, Sir; the 
season is the most backward I have ever known. It is re- 
markably so here, but by letters from Pennsylvania vegeta- 
tion is slow in proportion there." "The fruit, it is to be 
expected, will be safe; backward seasons are in favor of it, 
but in Virginia it was lost before I left that place." "Much 
depends on the exposure of the orchard. Those with a 
northern aspect have been found by us [in Pennsylvania] to 
be the most certain in producing fruit." "Yes, that is a 
good observation and should be attended to." Made my 
bow and retired. . . . 

June 5th, Friday. — . . , Here are the most important 
bills before us, and yet we shall throw all by for empty cere- 
mony, for attending the levee is little more. Nothing is re- 
garded or valued at such meetings but the qualifications that 



Organization of the New Government 223 

flow from the tailor, barber, or dancing-master. To be clean 
shaved, shirted, and powdered, to make your bows with 
grace, and to be master of small chat on the weather, play, or 
newspaper anecdote of the day, are the highest qualifications 
necessary. Levees may be extremely useful in old countries 
where men of great fortune are collected, as it may keep the 
idle from being much worse employed. But here I think 
they are hurtful. They interfere with the business of the 
public, and, instead of employing only the idle, have a tend- 
ency to make men idle who should be better employed. 
Indeed, from these small beginnings I fear we shall follow 
on nor cease till we have reached the summit of court eti- 
cjuette, and all the frivolities, fopperies, and expense prac- 
ticed in European governments. I grieve to think that many 
individuals among us are aiming at these objects with in- 
creasing diligence. . . . 

March Sth, 1790. — This is the important week, and per- 
haps the important day, when the question will be put on 
the assumption of the State debts. I suspect this from the 
rendezvousing of the crew of the Hamilton galley. It seems 
all hands are piped to quarters. 

Four o'clock, — I am rather deceived, as the adoption party 
do not yet consider themselves strong enough to risk the 
putting of the question, for it seems the day has passed and 
nothing is done. . . . 

March 9th. — In the Senate Chamber this morning Butler Debate on 
said he heard a man say he would give Vining one thousand ^^on™/*' 
guineas for his vote, but added, "I question whether he would state 
do so in fact." So do I, too, for he might get it for a tenth 
part of that sum. I do not know that pecuniary influence 
has actually been used, but I am certain that every other 
kind of management has been practiced and every tool at 
work that could be thought of. Officers of Government, 
clergy, citizens, [order of] Cincinnati, and every person under 
the influence of the Treasury; Bland and Huger carried to 



debts. 



224 Readings in American History 

the Chamber of Representatives — the one lame, the other 
sick. Clymer stopped from going away, though he had leave, 
and at length they risked the question and carried it, thirty- 
one votes to twenty-six. And all this after having tampered 
with the members since the 22nd of last month [February], 
and this only in committee, with many doubts that some 
will fly off and great fears that the North Carolina members 
will be in before a bill can be matured or a report gone 
through. . . . 



CHAPTER XV 

FOREIGN RELATIONS, 1793-1801 

47. Control of the Navigation of the Mississippi by 
Spain, 1793 

One of the most perplexing problems to be met by President 
Washington and his advisers grew out of the control of the mouth 
of the Mississippi by Spain. From the close of the Revolution 
men of the West were demanding the right to market their produce 
in New Oi'leans and to use that port for shipping. The following 
petition, printed in a Kentucky newspaper of the time, is one of many 
illustrating the general dissatisfaction in the West. 

TO THE INHABITANTS OF THE UNITED STATES WEST OF THE 
ALLEGANY AND APALACHIAN MOUNTAINS. 

Fellow Citizens, 

The Democratic Society of Kentucky, having had under 
consideration the measures necessary to obtain the exercise 
of your right to the free navigation of the Mississippi, have 
determined to address 3^ou upon that important topic. In 
so doing, they think, that they only use the undoubted right 
of Citizens, to consult for their common welfare. This meas- 
ure is not dictated by party or faction, it is the consequence 
of unavoidable necessity. It has become so from the neglect 
shewn by the General Government, to obtain for those of 
the citizens of the United States, who are interested therein, 
the navigation of that River. 

In the present age, when the rights of man have been Naviga- 
fully investigated and declared by the voice of nations, and J^^^,^^ 
more particularly in America, where those rights were first sippianat- 
developed and declared, it will not be necessary to prove, "'"^ ''^ 

225 



22G 



Readings in American History 



that the free navigation of the Mississippi is the natural 
right of the Inhabitants of the country watered by its streams. 
It cannot be beh"eved, that the beneficent God of nature 
would have blessed this country witli unparalleled fertility, 
and furnished it with a number of navigable streams, and 
that that fertility should be consumed at home, and those 
streams should not convey its superabundance to the climes 
far from it; for if we examine the wise diversity of the earth, 
as to climate and productions, lands, seas and rivers, we 
must discover the glorious plan of infinite beneficence to 
unite by the exchange of their surplus, various nations, and 
connect the ends of the earth, in the hands of commerce and 
mutual good offices. From the everlasting decrees of Prov- 
idence, then, we derive this right; and must be criminal 
either to surrender or suffer it to be taken from us; without 
the most arduous struggle. But this right is ours, not only 
from nature but compact. We do not mean to urge this, as 
if a compact could give an additional sanction to a natural 
right; but to shew that our claim is derived from every 
source which can give it validity. The Navigation of the 
Mississippi was solemnly given and confirmed by Great Brit- 
ain, to the citizens of the United States, by the provisional 
articles entered into at Paris, between the two nations. 
More than eleven years have since elapsed, during which we 
have been denied the exercise of a right, founded upon such 
irrefragible grounds. What has been done by the former or 
present Government, during that period, on our behalf? In 
the former, we have been able to learn of no attempt to pro- 
cure from the King of Spain, even an acknowledgment of 
our right. Repeated Memorials were presented to Congress 
upon the subject, but they were treated with a neglect bor- 
dering on contempt. They were laid upon the table, there 
to rest in endless oblivion. Once indeed, we know this sub- 
ject was introduced into Congress, under the former Govern- 
ment; but it was by an unwarrantable and disgraceful prop- 
osition to barter away our right. The proposition was not 
adopted; the attempt being rendered abortive by the spirited 



Foreign Relatione 



227 



rights. 



and patriotic opposition of a part of the Union. The time 
at length came, when the voice of the people called for a 
change in the General Government; and the present Consti- 
tution of the United States was adopted. We then flattered 
ourselves that our rights would be protected; for we were 
taught to believe, that the former loose and weak confedera- 
tion having been done away, the new Government would pos- 
sess the requisite energy. Memorials upon the subject were New gov- 
renewed: Six years have passed away, and our right is not neg™g°nt 
yet obtained. Money is to be taken from us by an odious of their 
and oppressive excise; but the means of procuring it, by the 
exercise of our just right, is denied. In the mean while, our 
brethren on the Eastern waters, possess every advantage 
which nature or compact can give them. Nay, we do not 
know that even one firm attempt to obtain it has been made. 
Alas! Is the energ}^ of our Government not to be exerted 
against our enemies? Is it all to be reserved for her citizens? 
Experience, Fellow-Citizens, has shewn that the General 
Government is unwilling that we should ol)tain the naviga- 
tion of the River Mississippi. A local policy appears to have 
an undue weight in the Councils of the Union. It seems to 
be the object of that policy to prevent the population of this 
country, which would draw from the Eastern States their in- 
dustrious Citizens. This conclusion inevitably follows from 
a consideration of the measures taken to prevent the purchase 
and settlement of the lands bordering on the Mississippi. 
Among those measures, the unconstitutional interference, 
which rescinded sales, by one of the States to private indi- 
viduals makes a striking object. And perhaps, the fear of a 
successful rivalship in every article of their exports may 
have its weight. But, if they are not unwilling to do us jus- 
tice, they are at least regardless of our rights and welfare. 
We have found prayers and supplications of no avail; and 
should we continue to load the table of Congress with memo- 
rials, from a part only, of the Western Country, it is too prob- 
able they would meet with a fate, similar to those which have 
formerly been presented. Let us, then, all unite our endeav- 



East vs. 
West. 



228 



Readings in American History 



ours to the common cause. Let all join in a firm and manly 
Remonstrance to the President aiul Congress of the United 
States, stating our just and undoubted right to the Naviga- 
tion of the Mississippi, remonstrating against the conduct of 
government with regard to that right, which must have been 
occasioned by local policy or neglect, and denumding of them 
speedy and effectual exertions for its attainment. We cannot 
doubt, that you will cordially and unanimously join in this 
measure. It can hardly be necessary to remind you, that 
considerable quantities of beef, pork, flour, hemp, tobacco, 
etc. the produce of this country, remain on hand for want of 
purchasers, or are sold at inadequate prices. Much greater 
quantities might be raised, if the Inhabitants were encour- 
aged by a certain sale, which the free Navigation of the Mis- 
sissippi would afford. An additional increase of those articles, 
and a greater variety of produce and manufactures would be 
supplied, by means of the encouragement, which the attain- 
ment of that great object would give to migration. But it 
is not only your own rights which you are to regard. Remem- 
ber that your posterity have a claim to your exertions to 
obtain and secure that right. Let not your memory be stig- 
matized with a neglect of duty. Let not history record, that 
the Inhabitants of this beautiful country lost a most invalu- 
able right and half the benefit bestowed upon it by a bounti- 
ful Providence, through your neglect and supineness. The 
present crisis is favorable. Spain is engaged in a war, which 
requires all her forces. If the present golden opportunity be 
suffered to pass without advantage, and she shall have con- 
cluded a peace with France, we must then contend against 
her undivided strength. 

But, what may be the event of the proposed application, 
is yet uncertain. We ought therefore, to be upon our guard, 
and watchful to seize the first favourable opportunity to 
gain our object. In order to do this, our union should be as 
perfect and lasting as possible. We propose, that societies 
should be formed in convenient districts, in every part of the 
Western country who shall preser\'e a correspondence upon 



Foreign Relations 



229 



this and every other subject of general concern. By means 
of these societies, we shall be enabled speedily to know what 
may be the result of our endeavours — to consult upon such 
further measures as may be necessary — to preserve union — 
and finally, by these means to secure success. 

Remember, that it is a cause which ought to unite us — 
that that cause is indubitably just — that ourselves and pos- 
terity are interested — that the Crisis is favourable — and that 
it is only by union, that the object can be achieved. The 
obstacles are great, and so ought to be our efforts. Adverse 
fortune may attend us, but it shall never dispirit us. We 
may for a while exhaust our wealth and strength in vain; 
but until the all-important object is procured, we pledge our- 
selves to you, and let us all pledge ourselves to each other, 
that our perseverance and our firmness will be inexhaustible. 
By order of the Society 

John Breckinridge 
Chairman. 



Teste, 



Thomas Todd ) ^, , 
rr, Ti r Clerks 

Thomas Bodle^ ) 



December 13, 1793. 



48. Washington's Farewell Address 



In saying farewell to the American people, whom he had served so 
well, Washington prepared a statement which is classed as one of 
our leading State papers. In it he appealed for national unity, free- 
dom from permanent foreign alliances, the promotion of education, 
the preservation of public credit, and the avoidance of debt.— 
(Paul Leicester Ford, The Writings of George Washington, XIII, 
1794-8, 277 passitn.) 

Friends, and Fellow-Citizens, 

The period for a new election of a Citizen, to administer Washing- 
the Executive Government of the United States, being not ^^Q^^e- 
far distant, and the time actually arrived, when your thoughts nominar 
must be employed in designating the person, who is to be '°°' 



230 Readings in American History 

clothed with that important trust, it appears to me proper, 
especially as it may conduce to a more distinct expression of 
the public voice, that I should now appraise you of the reso- 
lution I have formed, to decline being considered among the 
number of those, out of whom a choice is to be made. 

I beg you, at the same time, to do me the justice to be as- 
sured, that this resolution has not been taken, without a 
strict regard to all the considerations appertaining to the re- 
lation, which binds a dutiful citizen to his country — and that, 
in withdrawing the tender of service which silence in my situa- 
tion might imply, I am influenced by no diminution of zeal 
for your future interest, no deficiency of grateful respect for 
your past kindness; but act under and am supported by a full 
conviction that the step is compatible with both. . . . 
His best The impressions, with which I first undertook the arduous 

f^^th^ P"* trust, were explained on the proper occasion. — In the dis- 
charge of this trust, I will only say, that I have, with good in- 
tentions, contributed towards the organization and adminis- 
tration of the government, the best exertions of which a very 
fallible judgment was capable. — Not unconscious, in the 
outset, of the inferiority of my qualifications, experience in 
my own eyes, perhaps still more in the eyes of others, has 
strengthened the motives to diffidence of myself; and every 
day the increasing weight of years admonishes me more and 
more, that the shade of retirement is as necessary to me as it 
will be welcome. — Satisfied, that, if any circumstances have 
given peculiar value to my services, they were temporary, I 
have the consolation to believe, that, while choice and pru- 
dence invite me to quit the political scene, patriotism does not 
forbid it. . . . 
Value of The Unity of Government which constitutes you one peo- 

Union. p|g^ j^ ^^^^ j^^^ ^^^^. ^^ ^^^ — ]^ j^ justly so; — for it is a main 

Pillar in the Edifice of your real independence; the support 
of your tranquillity at home; your peace abroad; of your 
safety; of your prosperity in every shape; of that very Lib- 
erty, which you so highly prize. — But as it is easy to foresee, 
that, from different causes, and from difterent quarters, 



Foreign Relations 231 

much pains will be taken, many artifices employed, to weaken 
in your minds the conviction of this truth; — as this is the 
point in your political fortress against which the batteries of 
internal and external enemies will be most constantly and 
actively (though often covertly and insidiously) directed, it 
is of infinite moment, that you should properly estimate the 
immense value of your national Union to your collective and 
individual happiness; that you should cherish a cordial, 
habitual, and immoveable attachment; accustoming your- 
selves to think and speak of it as the Palladium of your polit- 
ical safety and prosperity; watching for its preservation with 
jealous anxiety; discountenancing whatever may suggest 
even a suspicion that it can in any event be abandoned, and 
indignantly frowning upon the first dawning of every at- 
tempt to alienate any portion of our Country from the rest, 
or to enfeeble the sacred ties which now link together the 
various parts. . . . 

While then every part of our Country thus feels an imme- 
diate and particular interest in Union, all the parts in the 
united mass of means and efforts cannot fail to find greater 
strength, greater resource, proportionally greater security 
from external danger, a less frequent interruption of their 
Peace by foreign nations; and, what is of inestimable value! 
they must derive from Union an exemption from those broils 
and wars between themselves, which so frequently afflict 
neighboring countries, not tied together by the same govern- 
ment; which their own rivalships alone would be sufficient 
to produce; but which opposite foreign alliances, attachments, 
and intrigues would stimulate and embitter. — Hence likewise 
they will avoid the necessity of those overgrown military 
establishments, which under any form of government, are 
inauspicious to liberty, and which are to be regarded as par- 
ticularly hostile to Republican Liberty: In this sense it is, 
that your Union ought to be considered as a main prop of 
your liberty, and that the love of the one ought to endear to 
you the preservation of the other. . . . 

In contemplating the causes which may disturb our Union, 



ooo 



Readings in American History 



it occurs as matter of serious concern, that any ground should 
have l)een I'lirnished for oharafterizinji; parties hy cfcof/ra/jhicul 
discriminations — Northern and Southern — Atlantic and West- 
ern; whence designing men may endeavor to excite a belief, 
that there is a real difference of local interests and views. One 
of the expedients of Party to acquire influence, within particu- 
lar districts, is to misrepresent the opinions and aims of other 
districts. — You cannot shield yourselves too much against 
the jealousies and heart burnings which spring from these 
misrepresentations ; — They tend to render alien to each other 
those who ought to be bound together by fraternal affec- 
tion. . . . 

There is an opinion that parties in free countries are use- 
ful checks upon the Administration of the Government, and 
serve to keep alive the Spirit of Liberty. — This within cer- 
tain limits is probal)ly true — and in governments of a Mon- 
archical cast. Patriotism may look with indulgence, if not 
with favour, upon the spirit of party. — But in those of the 
popular character, in Governments purely elective, it is a 
spirit not to be encouraged. From their natural tendency, 
it is certain there will always be enough of that spirit for 
every salutary purpose, and there being constant danger of 
excess, the effort ought to be, by force of public opinion, to 
mitigate and assuage it. A fire not to be quenched; it de- 
mands a uniform vigilance to prevent its bursting into a 
flame, lest, instead of warning, it should consume. . . . 

Of all the dispositions and hal)its, which lead to political 
prosperity, Religion and morality are indispensable supports. 
— In vain would that man claim the tribute of Patriotism, 
who should labour to subvert these great Pillars of human 
happiness, these firmest props of the duties of Men and Citi- 
zens. — The mere Politician, equally with the pious man, 
ought to respect and to cherish them. — A volume could not 
trace all their connections with private and public felicity. — 
Let it simply be asked where is the security for property, for 
reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert 
the oaths, which are the instruments of investigation in 



Foreign Relations 



233 



Courts of Justice? And let us with caution indulge the 
supposition, that morality can be maintained without relig- 
ion. — Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined 
education on minds of peculiar structure — reason and experi- 
ence both forbid us to expect, that national morality can 
prevail in exclusion of religious principle. — 

'Tis substantially true, that virtue or morality is a neces- 
sary spring of popular government. — The rule indeed extends 
with more or less force to every species of Free Government. 
— Who that is a sincere friend to it can look with indiffer- 
ence upon attempts to shake the foundation of the fabric? — 

Promote, then, as an object of primary importance, insti- 
tutions for the general diffusion of knowledge. In propor- 
tion as the structure of a government gives force to public 
opinion, it is essential that public opinion should be en- 
lightened. — 

As a very important source of strength and security, cher- 
ish public credit. — One method of preserving it is, to use it 
as sparingly as possible: — avoiding occasions of expense by 
cultivating peace, but remembering also that timely disburse- 
ments to prepare for danger frequently prevent much greater 
disbursements to repel it. . . . 

Cultivate peace and harmony with all. — Religion and 
Morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be that good policy 
does not equally enjoin it? — It will be worthy of a free, en- 
lightened, and, at no distant period, a great nation, to give 
to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a 
People always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. 
— Who can doubt that in the course of time and things, the 
fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary ad- 
vantages, which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? 
Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent 
felicity of a Nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, 
is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human 
nature. — Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices? 

In the execution of such a plan nothing is more essential 
than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particu- 



An enlight- 
ened pub- 
lic opinion. 



Preserve 

public 

credit. 



Peace 
with all 
nations. 



234 



Readings in American History 



Little po- 
litical con- 
nections 



lar nations and passionate attachments for others should be 
excluded; and that in place of them just and amicable feel- 
ings towards all should be cultivated. . . . 

The great rule of conduct for us, in regard to foreign Na- 
tions, is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with 
with other them as little Political connection as possible. — So far as we 
nations. l^ave already formed engagements, let thera be fulfilled with 
perfect good faith. — Here let us stop. — 

Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us have 
none, or a very remote relation. — Hence she must be engaged 
in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially 
foreign to our concerns. — Hence therefore it must be unwise 
in us to implicate ourselves, by artificial ties in the ordinary 
vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and 
collisions of her friendships, or enmities. . . . 
Conscious Though, in reviewing the incidents of my administration, 
of defects, j ^^^ unconscious of intentional error — I am nevertheless too 
sensible of my defects not to think it probable that I may 
have committed many errors. — Whatever they may be, I 
fervently beseech the Almighty to avert or mitigate the 
evils to which they may tend. — I shall also carry with me 
the hope that my country will never cease to view them 
with indulgence; and that after forty-five years of my life 
dedicated to its service, with an upright zeal, the faults of 
incompetent abilities will be consigned to oblivion, as my- 
self must soon be to the mansions of rest. . . . 

Relying on its kindness in this as in other things, and ac- 
tuated by that fervent love towards it, which is so natural 
to a man, who views in it the native soil of himself and his 
progenitors for several generations; — I anticipate with pleas- 
ing expectation, that retreat, in which I promise myself to 
realize, without alloy, the sweet enjoyment of partaking, in 
the midst of my fellow-citizens, the benign influence of good 
laws under a free Government, — the ever favourite object of 
my heart, and the happy reward, as I trust, of our mutual 
cares, labours, and dangers. 

United States, September 19th, 1796. 



Foreign Relations 



235 



49. The X. Y. Z. Correspondence, 1797 

In 1796 Washington appointed Charles Cotesworth Pinckney to 
Bucceed James Monroe as minister to France. The Directory, the 
French Executive of that time, refused to receive Pinckney, and or- 
dered him to leave France. This insult was thought by most Ameri- 
cans to be sufficient cause for war, but President Adams, determined 
to preserve peace, if possible, sent three commissioners to France to 
attempt negotiation. These three men, C. C. Pinckney, John Mar- 
shall, and Elbridge Gerry, were interviewed by the secret agents of 
Talleyrand, who was minister of foreign affairs. Refusing to accede 
to their demands, Pinckney and Marshall left Paris, and Gerry also 
returned to America shortly after. The letters giving an account 
of the proceedings were sent to Timothy Pickering, Secretary of 
State, and were later submitted to Congress. — (American State 
Papers, Foreign Relations, II, 157-166.) 



No. 1 

Paris, October 22, 1797. 
Dear Sir: 

All of us having arrived at Paris on the evening of the 4th 
instant, on the next day we verbally, and unofficially, informed 
the Minister of Foreign Affairs therewith, and desired to 
know when he would be at leisure to receive one of our sec- 
retaries with the official notification. He appointed the next 
day at two o'clock, when Major Rutledge waited on him with 
the following letter : 

Citizen Minister: The United States of America being de- 
sirous of terminating all differences between them and the 
French republic, and of restoring that harmony and good 
understanding, and that commercial and friendly intercourse, 
which from the commencement of their political connexion 
until lately have so happily subsisted, the President has nom- 
inated, and, by and with the advice and consent of the Sen- 
ate, has appointed us, the undersigned, jointly and severally, 
envoys extraordinary and ministers plenipotentiary to the 
French republic, for the purpose of accomplishing these great 
objects. In pursuance of such nomination and appointment, 



Arrival in 
Paris. 



236 Readings in American History 

and with such view, having come to Paris, we wish, citizen 
minister, to wait on you at any hour you will be pleased to 
appoint, to present the copy of our letters of credence; and 
whilst we evince our sincere and ardent desire for the speedy 
restoration of friendship and harmony between the two re- 
publics, we flatter ourselves with your concurrence in the 
accomplishment of this desirable event. We request you 
will accept the assurances of our perfect esteem and consid- 
eration. 

Charles Coteswortu Pinckney, 

John Marshall, 

Elbridge Gerry. 

Mission of ... In the morning of October the 18th, Mr. W., of the 

■ * ■ house of , called on General Pinckney and informed 

him that a Mr. X., who was in Paris, and whom the General 
had seen, . . . was a gentleman of considerable credit and 
reputation, . . . and that we might place great reliance on 
him. 

In the evening of the same day, Mr. X. called on General 
Pinckney, and after having sat some time, . . . whispered 
him that he had a message from INI. Talleyrand to communi- 
cate when he was at leisure. General Pinckney immediately 
withdrew with him into another room; and, when they were 
alone, Mr. X. said that he was charged with a business in 
which he was a novice; that he had been acquainted with 
M. Talleyrand, . . . and that he was sure he had a ^reat 
regard for [America] and its citizens; and was very desirous 
that a reconciliation should be brought about with France; 
that, to effectuate that end, he was ready, if it was thought 
proper, to suggest a plan, confidentially, that M. Talley- 
rand expected would answer the purpose. General Pinck- 
ney .said he should be glad to hear it. Mr. X. replied that 
the Directory, and particularly two of the members of it, 
were exceedingly irritated at some passages of the President's 
speech, and desired that they should be softened; and tliat 
this step would be necessary previous to our reception. That, 



Foreign Relations 237 

besides this, a sum of money was required for the pocket of the Bribe de- 
Directory and ministers, which wouhl be at the disposal of ™^°<i®<*- 
M. Talleyrand; and that a loan would also be insisted on. 
Mr. X. said if we acceded to these measures, ]M. Talleyrand 
had no doubt that all our differences with France might be 
accomodated. On inquiry, Mr. X. could not point out the 
particular passages of the speech that had given offence, nor 
the quantum of the loan, but mentioned that the douceur 
for the pocket was twelve hundred thousand livres, about 
fifty thousand pounds sterling. General Pinckney told him, 
his colleagues and himself, from the time of their arrival here, • 
had been treated with great slight and disrespect; that they 
earnestly wished for peace and reconciliation with France; 
and had been entrusted by their country with very great 
powers, to obtain these ends on honourable terms; that, 
with regard to the propositions made, he could not even con- 
sider of them before he had communicated them to his col- 
leagues; that, after he had done so, he should hear from him. 
After a communication and consultation, it was agreed 
that General Pinckney should call on ]\Ir. X. and request 
him to make his propositions to us all; and for fear of mis- 
take or misapprehension, that he should be requested to re- 
duce the heads into writing. Accordingly, on the morning 
of October 19th, General Pinckney called on Mr. X., who 
consented to see his colleagues in the evening, and to reduce 
his propositions to writing. He said his communication was 
not immediately with M. Talleyrand, but through another 
gentleman in whom M. Talleyrand had great confidence. 
This proved afterwards to be Mr. Y. . . . October the 21st, 
Mr. X. came before nine o'clock; Mr. Y. did not come until 
ten: he had passed the morning with M. Talleyrand. After 
breakfast the subject was immediately resumed. He repre- 
sented to us, that we were not yet acknowledged or received; 
that the Directory were so exasperated against the United 
States, as to have come to a determination to demand from us, 
previous to our reception, those disavowals, reparations, and 
explanations, which were stated at large last evening. . . . 



238 



Readings in American History 



Insistent 
demand 
for gifts 
of money. 



Counter- 
proposals 
by Ameri- 
cans. 



He said further, that if we desired him to point out the sum 
which he believed would be satisfactory, he would do so. We 
requested him to proceed; and he said that there were tiiirty- 
two millions of florins, of Dutch inscriptions, worth ten shil- 
lings in the pound, which might be assigned to us at twenty 
shillings in the pound; and he proceeded to state to us the 
certainty that, after a peace, the Dutch Government would 
repay us the money; so that we should ultimately lose noth- 
ing, and the only operation of the measure would be, an ad- 
vance from us to France of thirty-two millions, on the credit 
of the Government of Holland. We asked him whether the 
fifty thousand pounds sterling, as a douceur to the Directory, 
must be in addition to this sum. He answered in the affirma- 
tive. We told him that, on the subject of the treaty, we had 
no hesitation in saying that our powers were ample; that, on 
the other points proposed to us, we would retire into another 
room, and return in a few minutes with our answer. 

We committed immediately to writing the answer we pro- 
posed, in the following words: "Our powers respecting a 
treaty are ample; but the proposition of a loan, in the form 
of Dutch inscriptions, or in any other form, is not within 
the limits of our instructions; upon this point, therefore, the 
Government must be consulted; one of the American min- 
isters will, for the purpose, forthwith embark for America; 
providing the Directory will suspend all further captures on 
American vessels, and will suspend proceedings on those al- 
ready captured, as well where they have been already con- 
demned, as where the decisions have not yet been rendered; 
and that where sales have been made, but the money not 
yet received by the captors, it shall not be paid until the pre- 
liminary questions, proposed to the ministers of the United 
States, be discussed and decided": which was read as a ver- 
bal answer; and we told them they might copy it if they 
pleased. Mr. Y. refused to do so; his disappointment was 
apparent; he said we treated the money part of the proposi- 
tion as if it had proceeded from the Directory; whereas, in 
fact, it did not proceed even from the minister, but was only 



Foreign Relations 239 

a suggestion from himself, as a substitute to be proposed by 
us, in order to avoid the painful acknowledgment that the 
Directory had determined to demand of us. It was told 
him that we understood that matter perfectly; that we knew 
the proposition was in form to be ours; but that it came 
substantially from the minister. We asked him what had 
led him to our present conversation? And General Pinck- 
ney then repeated the first communication from Mr. X. (to 
the whole of which that gentleman assented) and we ob- 
served that those gentlemen had brought no testimonials of 
their speaking any thing from authority; but that, relying 
on the fair characters they bore, we had believed them when 
they said they were from the minister, and had conversed 
with them, in like manner, as if we were conversing with 
M. Talleyrand himself. . . . 

About twelve we received another visit from Mr. X. He 
immediately mentioned the great event announced in the 
papers, and then said, that some proposals from us had been 
expected on the subject on which we had before conversed: 
that the Directory were becoming impatient, and would take Directory 
a decided course with regard to America, if we could not i°»patient. 
soften them. We answered, that on that subject we had 
already spoken explicitly, and had nothing further to add. 
He mentioned the change in the state of things which had 
been produced by the peace with the emperor, as warranting 
an expectation of a change in our system; to which we only 
replied, that this event had been expected by us, and would 
not, in any degree, affect our conduct. Mr. X. urged, that 
the Directory had, since this peace, taken a higher and more 
decided tone with respect to us, and all other neutral na- 
tions, than had been before taken; that it had been deter- 
mined, that all nations should aid them, or be considered 
and treated as their enemies. We answered, that such an 
effect had already been contemplated by us, as probable, and 
had not been overlooked when we gave to this proposition 
our decided answer; and further, that we had no powers to 
negotiate for a loan of money; that our Government had 



240 



Readings in American History 



Commis- 
sioners no 
power to 
make a 
loan. 



not contemplated such a circumstance in any degree what- 
ever; that if we should stipulate a loan, it would be a per- 
fectly void thing, and would only deceive France, and ex- 
pose ourselves. Mr. X. again expatiated on the power and 
violence of France: he urged the danger of our situation, 
and pressed the policy of softening them, and of thereby 
obtaining time. The present men, he said, would very 
probably not continue long in power, and it would be very 
unfortunate if those who might succeed, with better disposi- 
tions towards us, should find the two nations in actual war. 
We answered, that if war should l)e made on us by France, 
it would be so obviously forced on us, that on a change of 
men, peace might be made with as much facility as the 
present differences could be accomodated. We added, that 
all America deprecated a war with France; but that our 
present situation was more ruinous to us than a declared 
war could be; that at present our commerce was plundered 
unprotected; but that if war was declared, we should seek 
the means of protection. Mr. X. said, he hoped we should 
not form a connection with Britain; and we answered, that 
we hoped so too; that we had all been engaged in our Rev- 
olutionary war, and felt its injuries, that it had made the 
deepest impression on us; but that if France should attack 
us, we must seek the best means of self-defense. Mr. X. 
again returned to the subject of money: Said he, "Gentlemen, 
you do not speak to the point; it is money: it is expected 
that you will offer money." We said that we had spoken to 
that point very explicitly: we had given an answer. " No," 
said he, "you have not: what is your answer?" We replied. 
No money it is no; no; not a sixpence. He again called our attention 
b -^Am^r^" to the dangers which threatened our country, and asked, if 
cans. it would not be prudent, though we might not make a loan 

to the nation, to interest an influential friend in our favor. 
He said we ought to consider what men we had to treat with ; 
that they disregarded the justice of our claims, and the rea- 
soning with which we might support them; that they dis- 
regarded their own colonies, and considered themselves as 



foreign Relations 



241 



sioners not 

officially 

received. 



perfectly invulnerable with respect to us; that we could only 
acquire an interest among them by a judicious application 
of money, and it was for us to consider, whether the situa- 
tion of our country did not require that these means should 
be resorted to. VVe observed that the conduct of the French 
Government was such as to leave us much reason to fear, that 
should we give the money, it would effect no good purpose, 
and would not produce a just mode of thinking with respect 
to us. . . . 

We have not, however, hitherto received any official inti- Commis 
mation relative to this business: we are not yet received; and 
the condemnation of our vessels, for want of a rolr d'equi- 
page, is unremittingly continued. Frequent and urgent 
attempts have been made to inveigle us again into nego- 
tiations with persons not officially authorized, of which the 
obtaining of money is the basis: but we have persisted in de- 
clining to have any further communications relative to dip- 
lomatic business with persons of 'that description; and we 
mean to adhere to this determination. We are sorry to 
inform you that the present disposition of the Government 
of this country appears to be as unfriendly towards ours as 
ever, and that we have very little prospect of succeeding in 
our mission. 

We have the honor to be, etc. 

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 

J. Marshall, 

E. Gerry. 



50. John Marshall's Return To America and French- 
American Relations, 1798 

(The Philadelphia Gazette, June 19, 1798.) 

He was met at Frankfort by the Secretary of State and 
other citizens and escorted to town by the city cavalry com- 
manded by Captains Dunlap, Singer and Morrell. The bells 
were rung, and the streets crowded with citizens, who, by 



242 Readings in American History 

repeated acclamations evinced their affectionate respect to 
the distinguished talents and character of their fellow citizen 
and their satisfaction at his safe return from a very arduous 
and important mission. ... 

John Marshall was siven a dinner by the members of both 
Houses of Congress. The following toasts were offered. Number 
thirteen is particularly noteworthy as it has been commonly 
accepted as the reply of Mr. Pinckney which was " No, No, Not 
a six-pence." 

1. " The United States, free sovereign, and independent." 

2. " The people and the government, one and indivisible." 
13. " Millions for defense but not a cent for tribute." 



ATTITUDE OF THE PEOPLE 

President Adams declared in his message to Congress that nego- 
tiation was at an end and concluded with the famous statement: 
" I will never send another minister to France without assurances 
that he will be received, resj^ected, and honored as the representa- 
tive of a great, free, powerful and independent nation." Thousands 
of copies of the message and papers accompanying it were printed 
and dispersed by the Government and thousands more by individu- 
als at their own expense. The minds of the people were roused to 
the highest pitch. Addresses expressing confidence were sent to 
the President from all parts of the country. Calls for volunteers 
for the defence of the government were general. A company of 
Baltimore women proposed to associate themselves into a military 
corps for the defence of the country under the name of the Ameri- 
can Amazon Infantry. Some Philadelphia women formed them- 
selves into a reserve corps ready to march against the enemy when 
affairs should appear sufficiently gloomy to justify the measure. 
The following call for volunteers appeared in the Philadelphia 
Gazette for July 27, 1798: 

General Washington Commands! 

Hark! The Drum Beats To Arms! 

Recruiting Sergeant to the Youth of New Jersey. 

But to those youthful heroes who have never seen the 
world or heard the inspiring heart cheering sound of the drum 
and trumpet, he begs leave to address a few words. Your 
country, my boys is threatened with invasion! Your houses 



Foreign Relations 243 

and farms with fire, plunder and pillage. ... To arms then, 
my dear brave boys! leave your lonesome cottages and repair 
to the drum-head at New Brunswick where you will find me 
and my Comrades (all true sons of thunder) drinking bowls 
of cool grog, to the health and honour of Congress and our 
noble President. You shall there receive a handsome bounty 
with five dollars a month (until promoted) an elegant suit of 
clothes, draw daily rations that might tempt an epicure, and 
be treated with kindness and attention by your loving friend 
and well-wisher. 

James Hamilton 

Recruiting Sergeant. 

THE PEOPLE AND PRESIDENT ADAMS 

Lord Liston, British Minister to America, was a close observer of 
passing events. In the following letter to his home government, 
May 2, 1798, copied from the original in the British Public Record 
Office, he described the attitude of Americans toward President 
Adams: 

His conduct towards the French Government is considered 
as affording proofs of equal decision, ability and wisdom; he 
is looked up to as eminently calculated by his fortitude and 
genius to conduct the nation through the impending storm: 
and he is of a sudden become highly popular. 

I have seen him at the beginning of this season enter the 
theater and leave it without receiving the slightest mark of 
attention. Last night all the spectators rose when he ap- 
peared, the house was shaken with loud and protracted ac- 
clamations. A patriotic song, of no great poetical merit 
but in which there was introduced a stanza in his praise, 
was repeatedly called for, and received with enthusiastic ap- 
plause, and the whole audience joined in the chorus. In the 
night he was serenaded by a band of musicians and singers 
accompanied by a great number of persons of some rank — 
a compliment which was afterwards extended to the prin- 
cipal members of his administration. 



244 Readings in American History 



51. Steps Leading to an Understanding 

During th(^ suinnier of 1798, Talleyrand in a letter to the French 
minister in Holland intimated that France was then prepared to 
receive a representative from America. As was expected, this com- 
munication was made known to the American minister in Holland, 
William Vans Murray. This finally led to the sending of the second 
commission of three men by President Adams. — (American State 
Papers, Foreign Relations, II, 242.) 

The Minister of Exterior Relations to Citize?i Pichon, Secre- 
tary of Legation of the French republic near the Batavian 
republic. 

Paris, the 7th Vendemiaire, (September 28, 1798), 
7th year of the French repubUc, one and incHvisible. 
I have received, successively, citizen, your letters of the 
22nd and 27th Fructidor, (8th and 13th of September.) 
They give me more and more cause to be pleased with the 
measures you have adopted to detail to me your conversa- 
tions with Mr. Murray: those conversations, at first merely 
friendly, have acquired a consistency, by my sanction, trans- 
mitted to you on the 11th Fructidor, (28th of August.) I do 
not regret that you have trusted to ]Mr. Murray's honor a 
copy of my letter. It was intended only for you; and it con- 
tains nothing but what is conformable to the Government's 
intention. I am fully convinced that should explanations 
once take place with confidence between the two cabinets, 
irritation would cease, a number of misunderstandings would 
disappear, and the ties of friendship would be more strongly 
united, as both parties would be made sensible what hand 
had attempted to disunite them. But I do not conceal from 
you that your letter of the 2nd and 3rd Vendemiaire, (23rd 
and 24th of September,) this moment arrived, surprises me 
much. What Mr. Murray is still doubtful of has been very 
explicitly declared, before even the President's message to 
Congress, of the 3rd Messidor, (21st of June,) was known in 
France. I had written it to Mr. Gerrv, namely on the 24th 



Foreign Relations 245 

Messidor, (12th of July,) and 4th Thermidor, (July 22nd.) 
I repeated it to him before he set off. A whole paragraph of 
my letter to you, of the 11th Fruetidor, (28th of August,) of 
which Mr. Murray has a copy, is devoted to develop still 
more the fixed determination of the French Government. 
According to these bases, you were right to assert that what- 
ever plenipotentiary the Government of the United States 
might send to France, in order to terminate the existing dif- 
ferences between the two countries, he would be undoubtedly 
received with the respect due to the representative of a free, 
independent, and powerful nation. 

I cannot persuade myself, citizen, that the American Gov- 
ernment need any further declaration from us, to take the 
resolution, in order to renew the negotiations; to adopt such 
measures, as would suggest their wish to bring the differences 
to a peaceable end. If misunderstandings on both sides 
have prevented former explanations reaching that end, it is 
presumable that these misunderstandings being done away, 
nothing henceforth will raise any obstacle to the reciprocal 
dispositions. . . . 



CHAPTER XVI 

DEMOCRACY AND EXPANSION, 1801-1811 

52. Thomas Jefferson as Man and Statesman 

The first number of the National Intelligencer was published in 
Washington, October 31, 1800. For over fifty years, as a triweekly, 
and later as a daily, it was one of the leading national newspapers. 
Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith, wife of the first owner of the paper, 
counted among her friends the men and women of the time who 
were the leaders in political and social life. She was in position, 
therefore, to give a good description of the period when Jefferson 
became President. — (Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith, Diaries and 
Family Letters, edited by Gaillard Hunt, Scribner's Magazine, XL, 
September, 1906, 294 passim.) 

Personal- " And is this," said I, after my first inter\"iew with Mr. 
f rson^*^*^" Jffferson, "the violent democrat, the vulgar demagogue, the 
1800. bold atheist & profligate man I have so often heard denounced 

by the federalists? Can this man so meek & mild, yet digni- 
fied in his manners, with a voice so soft & low, with a coun- 
tenance so benignant & intelligent, can he be that daring 
leader of a faction, that disturber of the peace, that leader 
of all rank & order?" Mr. Smith, indeed, (himself a demo- 
crat) had given me a very different description of this cele- 
brated individual; but his favourable opinion I attributed in 
a great measure to his political feelings, which led him zeal- 
ously to support & exalt the party to which he belonged, 
especially its popular & almost idolized leader. Thus the 
virulence of party-spirit was somewhat neutralized, nay, I 
even entertained towards him the most kindly dispositions, 
knowing him to be not only politically but personally friendly 

246 



Democracy and Expansion 247 

to my husband; yet I believed that he was an ambitious & 
violent demagogue coarse & vulgar in his manners, awkward 
& rude in his appearance, for such had the public journals & 
private conversations of the federal party represented him 
to be. 

At this time Mr. Jefferson was vice-President & in nomina- The capi- 
tion for the Presidency. Our infant city afforded scant ac- '^' "*^' 
commodations for the members of Congress. There were 
few good boarding-houses, but Mr. Jefferson was fortunate 
enough to obtain one of the best. Thomas Law one of the 
wealthiest citizens & largest proprietors of city property, 
had just finished for his own use a commodious & hand- 
some house on Capitol hill; this, on discovering the in- 
sufficiency of accommodation, he gave up to Conrad for a 
boarding-house, & removed to a very inconvenient dwell- 
ing on Greenleaf's point, almost two miles distant from the 
Capitol. 

Conrad's boarding-house was on the south side of Capitol 
hill & commanded an extensive & beautiful view. It was on 
the top of the hill, the precipitous sides of which were covered 
with grass, shrubs & trees in their wild uncultivated state. 
Between the foot of the hill & the broad Potomac extended 
a wide plain, through which the Tiber wound its way. The 
romantic beauty of this little stream was not then deformed 
by wharves or other works of art. Its banks were shaded 
with tall & umbrageous forest trees of every variety, among 
which the superb Tulip-Poplar rose conspicuous; The mag- 
nolia, the azalia, the hawthorn, the wild-rose & many other 
indigenous shrubs grew beneath their shade, while violets, 
anemonies & a thousand other sweet wood-flowers found shel- 
ter among their roots, from the winter's frost & greeted with the 
earliest bloom the return of spring. . . . Not only the banks 
of the Tiber, but those of the Potomack & Anacosta, were at 
this period adorned with native trees & shrubs & were dis- 
tinguished by as romantic scenery as any rivers in our coun- 
try. Indeed the whole plain was diversified with groves & 
clumps of forest trees which gave it the appearance of a fine 



248 Readings in American History 

park. Such as grew on the puhhc grounds ouglit to have 
been preserved, but in a goveriunent such as ours, where the 
people are sovereign, this couhJ not be done. The pcoijlr, the 
poorer inhabitants cut down these noble & beautiful trees 
for fuel. In one single night seventy Tulip-Poplars were gir-, 
(lied, by which process life is destroyed & afterwards cut up 
at their leisure by the people. Nothing afflicted Mr. Jeffer- 
son like this wanton destruction of the fine trees scattered 
over the city-grounds. I remember on one occasion (it was 
after he was President) his exclaiming "How I wish that I 
possessed the power of a despot." The company at table 
stared at a declaration so opposed to his disposition & prin- 
ciples. " Yes," continued he, in reply to their inquiring looks, 
" I wi.sh I was a despot that 1 might save the noble, the beau- 
tiful trees that are daily falling sacrifices to the cupidity of 
their owners, or the necessity of the poor." 

" And have you not authority to save those on the public 
grounds?" asked one of the company. " No," answered Mr. 
J., "only an armed guard could save them. The unneces- 
sary felling of a tree, perhaps the growth of centuries seems 
to me a crime little short of murder, it pains me to an un- 
speakable degree." 
Jefferson's It was partly from this love of nature, that he selected 
Conrad's boarding-house, being there able to enjoy the beau- 
tiful & extensive prospect described above. Here he had a 
separate drawing-room for the reception of his visitors, in 
all other respects he lived on a perfect equality with his fel- 
low boarders, and eat at a common table. Even here, so far 
from taking precedence of the other members of Congress, 
he always placed himself at the lowest end of the table. Mrs. 
Brown, the wife of the senator from Kentucky, suggested 
that a seat should be offered him at the upper end, near the 
fire, if not on account of his rank as vice-President, at least 
as the Oldest man in company. But the idea was rejected 
by his democratic friends, & he occupied during the whole 
winter the lowest & coldest seat at a long table at which a 
company of more than thirty sat down. 



democ- 
racy 



Democracy and Expansion 249 

February, 1801. 

It was a day, "big with our country's fate" — a fate not Jefferson 
suspended on the triumph or defeat of two contending armies |J^cted 
drawn forth in battle array — but on two contending political 
Parties, who after years of conflict, were now brought to issue. 
The power, which had been originally vested in the Federal 
party, had been gradually diminished by the force of public 
opinion, & transferred to the Democratic Party. For a while 
equality of power was maintained — but the equipoise did not 
last long, — a great & preponderating majority in the Presi- 
dential election, decided the relative strength of parties, the 
Democrats prevailed & brought into office, on the full-tide 
of popularity, the man who had been long recognized as the 
head of their Party. 

There was not a shadow of doubt or uncertainty as to the 
object of the people's choice. It had been proclaimed too 
widely & too loudly for any individual to remain ignorant of 
the fact. 

But this accidental &: uncalculated result, gave the Federal 
party a chance of preventing the election of a man they 
politically abhorred — a man whose weight of influence had 
turned the scale in favour of the opposing Party. No means 
were left unattempted (perhaps 1 ought to say no honesf. 
means) to effect this measure. 

It was an aweful crisis. The People who with such an 
overwhelming majority had declared their will would never 
peaceably have allowed the man of their choice to be set 
aside, & the individual they had chosen as vice-President, to 
be put in his place. A civil war must have taken place, to 
be terminated in all human probability by a rupture of the 
Union. Such consequences were at least calculated on, & 
excited a deep & inflamatory interest. Crowds of anxious 
spirits from the adjacent county & cities thronged to the 
seat of government & hung like a thunder cloud over the 
Capitol, their indignation ready to burst on any individual 
who might be designated as President in opposition to the 
people's known choice. The citizens of Baltimore who from 



250 Readings in American History 

their proximity, were the first apprised of this daring design, 
were with difficulty restrained from rushing on with an armed 
force, to prevent, — or if they could not prevent, to avenge 
this violation of the People's will & in their own vehement 
language, to hurl the usurper from his seat. Mr. Jefferson, 
then President of the Senate, sitting in the midst of these 
conspirators, as they were then called, unavoidably hearing 
their loudly whispered designs, witnessing their gloomy & rest- 
less machinations, aware of the dreadful consequences, which 
must follow their meditated designs, preserved through this 
trying period the most unclouded serenity the most perfect 
equanimity. A spectator who watched his countenance, 
would never have surmised, that he had any personal inter- 
est in the impending event. Calm & self possessed, he re- 
tained his seat in the midst of the angry & stormy, though 
half smothered passions that were struggling around him, 
& by this dignified tranquility repressed any open violence, 
— tho' insufficient to prevent whispered menaces & in- 
sults, to these however he turned a deaf ear, & resolutely 
maintained a placidity which baffled the designs of his 
enemies. 

The crisis was at hand. The two bodies of Congress met, 
the Senators as witnesses the Representatives as electors. 
The question on which hung peace or war, nay, the Union of 
the States was to be decided. What an awful responsibility 
was attached to every vote given on that occasion. The 
sitting was held with closed doors. It lasted the whole day, 
the whole night. Not an individual left that solemn assem- 
bly, the necessary refreshment they required was taken in 
rooms adjoining the Hall. They were not like the Roman 
conclave legally & forcibly confined, the restriction was self- 
imposed from the deep-felt necessity of avoiding any extrinsic 
or external influence. Beds, as well as food were sent, for 
the accommodation of those whom age or debility disabled 
from enduring such a long protracted sitting — the ballotting 
took place every hour — in the interval men ate, drank, slept 
or pondered over the result of the last ballot, compared ideas 



Democracy and Expansion 251 

& persuasions to change votes, or gloomily anticipated the 
consequences, let the result be what it would. 

With what an intense interest did every individual watch 
each successive examination of the Ballot-box, how breath- 
lessly did they listen to the counting of the votes! Every 
hour a messenger brought to the Editor of the N. I* the re- 
sult of the Ballot. That night I never lay down or closed 
my eyes. As the hour drew near its close, my heart would 
almost audibly beat & I was seized with a tremour that al- 
most disabled me from opening the door for the expected 
messenger. 

For more than thirty hours the struggle was maintained, 
but finding the republican phalanx impenetrable, not to be 
shaken in their purpose, every effort proving unavailing, the 
Senator from Delaware (James A. Bayard) the withdrawal 
of whose vote would determine the issue, took his part, gave 
up his party for his country, and threw into the box a blank 
ballot, thus leaving to the republicans a majority. Mr. Jef- 
ferson was declared duly elected. The assembled crowds, 
without the Capitol, rent the air with their acclamations and 
gratulations, and the Conspirators as they were called, hur- 
ried to their lodgings under strong apprehensions of suffering 
from the just indignation of their fellow citizens. 

The dark and threatening cloud which had hung over the 
political horrison, rolled harmlessly away, and the sunshine 
of prosperity and gladness broke forth and ever since, with 
the exception of a few passing clouds has continued to shine 
on our happy country. . . . 

His tall and slender figure is not impaired by age, tho' bent Visit to 
by care and labour. His white locks announce an age his ac- 
tivity, strength, health, enthusiasm, ardour and gaiety con- 
tradict. His face owes all its charm to its expression and 
intelligence; his features are not good and his complexion 
bad, but his countenance is so full of soul and beams with 
such benignity, that when the eye rests on his face, it is too 
busy in perusing its expression, to think of its features or 
* National Intelligencer. 



Monti- 
cello, 1809. 



252 



Readings in American History 



complexion. His low and mild voice, harmonizes with his 
countenance rather than his figure. But his manners, — how 
gentle, how humble, how kind. His meanest slave must feel 
as if it were a father instead of a master who addressed him, 
when he speaks. To a disposition ardent, affectionate and 
communicative, he joins manners timid, even to bashfulness 
and reserved even to coldness. If his life had not proved to 
the contrary I should have pronounced him rather a man of 
imagination and taste, than a man of judgement, a literary 
rather than a scientific man, and least of all a politician, a 
character for which nature never seemed to have intended 
him, and for which the natural turn of mind, and his disposi- 
tion, taste, and feeling equally unfit him. I should have been 
sure that this was the case, even had he not told me so. In 
an interesting conversation I had one evening — speaking of 
his past public and present domestic life — " The whole of my 
life," said he, " has been a war with my natural taste, feelings 
and wishes. Domestic life and literary pursuits, were my 
first and my latest inclinations, circumstances and not my 
desires lead me to the path I have trod. And like a bow 
tho long bent, which when unstrung flies back to its natural 
state, I resume with delight the character and pursuits for 
which nature designed me. 

"The circumstances of our country," continued he, "at 
my entrance into life, were such that every honest man felt 
himself compelled to take part, and to act up to the best of 
his abilities." . . . 

53. Thomas Jefferson as Seen by Daniel Webster 



Webster visited Jefferson at Monticello during the year 1824. 
This description is given in George Ticknor Curtis's Life of Daniel 
Wob.stor, I, .581-4: 

Personal Mr. Jefferson is now between SI and 82 above six feet 

ance oV 'I's'i' "f '1" ample bony frame, rather thin and spare. His 
Jefferson, head is set forward on his shoulders. His head is well cov- 
ered with hair, which having once been red, and now turning 



Democracy and Expansion 253 

white, is of an indistinct lioht sandy color. His eyes are 
small, very light and now neither brilliant nor striking. His 
chin is rather long, not sharp; his nose small, regular in its 
outline, with the nostrils a little elevated. His mouth is 
well formed, generally strongly compressed, having an ex- 
pression of contentment and benevolence. His limbs are 
uncommonly long and his hands and feet very large. He 
stoops a little, not so much from age as from constitutional 
formation. His whole dress is not slovenly but neglected. 

Every fair morning he rides on horseback not less than Jefferson's 
seven miles, sometimes twelve or fourteen. His conversa- t^^^^^^- 
tion is easy and natural. The topics when not selected to 
suit the character and feeling of his auditor, are those sub- 
jects with which his mind seems particularly occupied and 
these at present may be justly said to be — 1. science and 
letters, especially tiie I^niversity of Virginia which is coming 
into existence, almost entirely from his exertions. When we 
were with him, his favorite literary subjects were Greek and 
Anglo-Saxon and 2. Historical recollections of the times and 
events of the Revolution, and of his residence in France from 
1783-1789. ... 



54. Attitude of Jefferson Towards the 
Constitution 

Jefferson feared that a monarchical form of government would 
ultimately be established in the United States. The following let- 
ter to Elbridge Gerry, of Massachusetts, states his view on the 
methods which would be used by his political opponents to ac- 
complish their purpose. — (Paul Leicester Ford, Writings of Thomas 
Jefferson, VII, 327. With the permission of G. P. Putnam's Sons, 
New York.) 

I do then, with sincere zeal, wish an unviolable preserva- 
tion of our present federal constitution, according to the true 
sense in which it was adopted by the States, that in which it 
was advocated by its friends and not that which its enemies 
apprehended, who therefore })ecame its enemies; and I am 



254 Readings in American History 

opposed to the monarchising its features by the forms of its 
administration, with a view to conciliate a first transition to 
a President and Senate for life and from that to a hereditary 
tenure of these oflBces, and thus to worm out the elective 
principle. I am for preserving to the States the powers not 
yielded by them to the Union, and to the legislature of the 
Union it's constitutional share in the division of powers; and 
I am not for transferring all the powers of the States to the 
general Gov't, and all those of that Gov't, to the executive 
branch. I am for a gov't rigorously frugal and simple, ap- 
plying all the possible savings of the public revenue to the 
discharge of the national debt; and not for a multiplication 
of officers and salaries merely to make partisans, and for in- 
creasing by every device, the public debt, on the principle of 
its being a public blessing. I am for relying, for internal de- 
fense on our militia, solely till actual invasion, and for such 
a naval force only as may protect our coasts and harbors 
from such depredations as we have experienced ; and not for 
a standing army in time of peace, which may overawe the 
public sentiment; nor for a navy, which by its own expenses 
and the eternal wars in which it will implicate us, will grind 
us with public burthens and sink us under them. I am for 
free commerce with all nations; political connection with 
none; and little or no diplomatic establishment, and I am 
not for linking ourselves by new treaties with the quarrels of 
Europe, entering that field of slaughter to preserve their bal- 
ance, or joining in the confederacy of kings to war against 
the principles of liberty. 

I am for freedom of religion, and against all manoeuvres to 
bring about a legal ascendancy of one sect over another; for 
freedom of the press, and against all violations of the consti- 
tution to silence by force and not by reason the complaints 
or criticisms, just or unjust, of our citizens against the con- 
duct of their agents. And I am for encouraging the progress 
of science in all its branches. 

For my own part I consider these laws as merely an ex- 
periment on the American mind, to see how far it will bear 



Democracy and Expansion 



zoo 



an avowed violation of the Constitution. If this goes down Alien and 

we shall immediately see attempted another act of Congress, ^^s"°° 

declaring that the President shall continue in office during Writings, 

life, reser\-ing to another occasion the transfer of the sue- ^^' ^^' 
cession to his heirs and the establishment of the Senate for 
life. 



55. Founding of the University of Virginia, 1819 

Thomas JeflFerson was graduated from William and Marj's Col- / 

lege. While in Europe he made a study of European universities 
and desired to found in America an iastitution for higher learning 
which should partake of the leading features of Edinburgh and 
Geneva, especially, which he called ''the two eyes of Europe." In 
place of emphasizing Greek and Latin, as was common in the col- 
leges of the time, he pro\'ided a large place for the sciences planned 
for military and technological education and for distinct professional 
schools of law, medicine, and other subjects. 

Joseph Priestley, who wa-s consulted by Jeflferson relative to the 
courses of study for the University, was an Enghsh scientist who 
came to America in 1794 and afterwards lived in Northumberland, 
Pennsylvania. — (Paul Leicester Ford, Writings of Thomas Jefferson, 
Vll, 407 passim.) 

We have in that state a college (Wm. and Mary) just well 
enough endowed to draw out the miserable existence to which 
a miserable constitution has doomed it. It is moreover ec- 
centric in its position, exposed to all bilious diseases as all 
the lower country is, and therefore abandoned by the public 
care, as that part of the country itself is in a considerable 
degree by its inhabitants. We wish to establish in the upper Type of 
and healthier countrv, and more centrallv for the state, an J^^'^i^'tJ" 

. , ' _ ' ' to be es- 

Lniversity on a plan so broad and liberal and modern, as to tabiished. 
be worth patronizing with the public support, and be a temp- 
tation to the youth of other states to come and drink of the 
cup of knowledge and fraternize with us. The first step is 
to obtain a good plan; that is, a judicious selection of the 
sciences, and a practicable grouping of some of them together, 
and ramifying of others, so as to adapt the professorships to 
our uses and our means. In an institution meant chieflv for 



256 



Readbujs in American History 



Sciences 
and arts. 



Work of 
professors. 



use, some branches of science, formerly esteemed, may be 
now omitted; so may others now valued in Europe, but use- 
less to us for ages to come. As an example of the former, 
the oriental learning, and of the latter, almost the whole of 
the institution proposed to Congress by the Secretary of 
war's report of the 5th inst. Now there is no one to whom 
this subject is so familiar as yourself. There is no one in the 
world who, equally with yourself, unites this full possession 
of the subject with such a knowledge of the state of our ex- 
istence, as enables you to fit the garment to him who is to 
pay for it and to wear it. To you therefore we address our 
solicitations, and to lessen to you as much as possible the 
ambiguities of our object, I will venture even to sketch the 
sciences which seem useful and practicable for us, as they 
occur to me while holding my pen. Botany, Chemistry, Zo- 
ology, Anatomy, Surgery, Medicine, Natl Philosophy, Agri- 
culture, Politics, Commerce, History, Ethics, Law, Arts, Fine- 
arts. This list is imperfect because I make it hastily, and 
because I am unequal to the subject. It is evident that 
some of these articles are too much for one professor and 
must therefore be ramified; others may be ascribed in groups 
to a single professor. This is the difficult part of the work, 
and requires a head perfectly knowing the extent of each 
branch, and the limits within which it may be circumscribed, 
so as to bring the whole within the power of the fewest pro- 
fessors possible, and consequently within the degree of ex- 
pense practicable for us. We should propose that the pro- 
fessors follow no other calling, so that their whole time may 
be given to their academical functions; and we should pro- 
pose to draw from Europe the first characters in science, by 
considerable temptations, which would not need to be re- 
peated after the first set should have prepared fit successors 
and given reputation to the institution. From some splen- 
did characters I have received offers most perfectly reason- 
able and practicable. 

I do not propose to give you all this trouble merely of my 
own head, that would be arrogance. It has been the sub- 



Democracy and Expansion 



257 



ject of consultation among the ablest and highest characters 
of our State, who only wait for a plan to make a joint and 
I hope successful effort to get the thing carried into ef- 
fect. . . . 



To Joseph Priestley 

Philadelphia, Jan. 27, 1800. 
Dear Sir, — In my letter of the 18th, I omitted to say any- 
thing of the languages as part of our proposed university. 
It was not that I think, as some do, that they are useless. 1 
am of a very different opinion. I do not think them essen- 
tial to the obtaining eminent degrees of science; but I think 
them very useful towards it. I suppose there is a portion of 
life during which our faculties are ripe enough for this, and 
for nothing more useful. 1 think the Greeks and Romans 
have left us the present models which exist of fine composi- 
tion, whether we examine them as works of reason, or of 
style and fancy; and to them we probably owe these char- 
acteristics of modern composition. I know of no composi- 
tion of any other ancient people, which merits the least re- 
gard as a model for its matter or style. To all this I add, 
that to read the Latin and Greek authors in their original, is 
a sublime luxury; and I deem luxury in science to be at 
least as justifiable as in architecture, painting, gardening, or 
the other arts. I enjoy Homer in his own language infinitely 
beyond Pope's translation of him, and both beyond the dull 
narrative of the same events by Dares Phrygius; and it is 
an innocent enjoyment. I thank on my knees, him who di- 
rected my early education, for having put into my possession 
this rich source of delight; and I would not exchange it for 
anything which I could then have acquired, and have not 
since acquired. With this regard for those languages, you 
will acquit me of meaning to omit them. x\bout twenty 
years ago, I drew a bill for our legislature, which proposed to 
lay off every county into hundreds or townships of 5. or 6. 
miles square, in the centre of each of which was to be a free 
English school; the whole state was further laid off into 10 



Language. 



Plan for 
State edu- 
cation. 



258 Readings in American History 

districts, in each of which was to be a college for teaching the 
languages, geography, surveying, and other useful things of 
that grade, and then a single University for the sciences. It 
was received with enthusiasm; but as I had proposed that 
Wm. and Mary, under an improved form, should be the Uni- 
versity, and that was at that time pretty highly Episcopal, the 
dissenters after a while began to apprehend some secret de- 
sign of a preference to that sect and nothing could then be 
done. About three years ago they enacted that part of my 
bill which related to English schools, except that instead of 
obliging, they left it optional in the court of every county to 
carry it into execution or not. I think it probable the part 
of the plan for the middle grade of education, may also be 
brought forward in due time. In the meanwhile, we are not 
without a sufficient number of good country schools, where 
the languages, geography, and the first elements of Mathe- 
matics, are taught. Having omitted this information in my 
former letter, I thought it necessary now to supply it, that 
you might know on what base your superstructure, was to 
be reared. ... 

56. The Lewis and Clark Expedition 

President Jefferson, in January, 1803, asked Congress to appro- 
priate twenty-five hundred dollars for an exploring expedition to 
the Pacific Ocean. This was granted, and Captain ]\Ieriwether Lewis, 
who was at the time Mr. Jefferson's private secretary, was ap- 
pointed to take charge of the expedition. Captain Lewis desired 
to have Captain William Clark, the younger brother of George 
Rogers Clark, accompany him. On July 5, a few days after the 
news was received of the purchase of Louisiana, Captain Lewis set 
out from Washington. The winter was passed on the east side of 
the Mississippi River, nearly opposite the mouth of the Missouri. 
May \A, 1804, the party began their journey up the Missouri. — 
(Paul Allen, History of the Expedition under the Command of Cap- 
tains Lewis and Clark to the Sources of the Missouri, etc. From 
the Journal of Lewis and Clark, I, 53 passim; II, 83 passim, in 
M'Vickar abridgment, 1855.) 

The party. The party consisted of nine young men from Kentucky, 
fourteen soldiers of the United States army, who volunteered 



Democracy and Expansion 



259 



their services, two French watermen (an interpreter and 
hunter) and a black servant belonging to Captain Clark. 
All these, except the last, were enlisted to serve as privates 
during the expedition, and three sergeants appointed from 
among them by the captains. In addition to these were en- 
gaged a corporal and six soldiers, and nine watermen, to ac- 
company the expedition as far as the Mandan nation, in order 
to assist in carrying the stores or repelling an attack, which 
was most to be apprehended between Wood River and that 
tribe. The necessary stores were subdivided into seven bales The outfit, 
and one box, containing a small portion of each article in 
case of accident. They consisted of a great variety of cloth- 
ing, working utensils, locks, flints, powder, ball, and articles 
of the greatest use. To these were added fourteen bales and 
one box of Indian presents, distributed in the same manner, 
and composed of richly-laced coats and other articles of dress, 
medals, flags, knives, and tomahawks for the chiefs; orna- 
ments of different kinds, particularly beads, looking-glasses, 
handkerchiefs, paints, and, generally, such articles as were 
deemed best calculated for the taste of the Indians. The 
party was to embark on board of boats: the first was a keel- Boats, 
boat fifty-five feet long, drawing three feet water, carrying 
one large square-sail and twenty-two oars; a deck of ten 
feet in the bow and stern formed a forecastle and cabin, while 
the middle was covered by lockers, which might be raised so 
as to form a breastwork in case of attack. This was accom- 
panied by two piroques or open boats, one of six and the 
other of seven oars. Two horses were at the same time to 
be led along the banks of the river, for the purpose of bring- 
ing home game, or hunting in case of scarcity. . . . 

June 24, he sent J. Fields up the river, with orders to go Some of 
four miles and return, whether he found the two absent 
hunters or not. Then, descending the southwest side of 
Medicine River, he crossed the Missouri in the canoe, and 
sent Shannon back to his camp to join Fields, and bring the 
meat which they had killed: this they did, and arrived in 
the evening at the camp at White Bear Islands. Part of the 



the hard- 
ships. 



260 Readings in American History 

men from Portage Creek also arrived with two canoes and 
baggage. On going down yesterday, Captain Clark cut off 
several angles of the former route, so as to shorten the por- 
tage considerably, and marked it with stakes: he arrived 
there in time to have two of the canoes carried up in the 
high plain, about a mile in advance. Here they all repaired 
their moccasins, and put on double soles to protect them 
from the prickly-pear, and from the sharp points of earth 
which have been formed by the trampling of the buffalo dur- 
ing the late rains. This of itself is sufficient to render the 
portage disagreeable to one who had no burden; but, as the 
, men are loaded as heavily as their strength will permit, the 
crossing is really painful. Some are limping with the sore- 
ness of their feet; others are scarcely able to stand for more 
than a few minutes from the heat and fatigue; they are all 
obliged to halt and rest frequently; and at almost every 
stopping-place they fall, and many of them are asleep in an 
instant; yet no one complains, and they go on with great 
cheerfulness. At their camp Drewyer and Fields joined 
them; and, while Captain Lewis was looking for them at 
Medicine River, they returned to report the absence of Shan- 
non, about whom they had been very uneasy. They had 
killed several buffalo at the bend of the Missouri above the 
falls, and dried about eight hundred pounds of meat, and 
got one hundred pounds of tallow: they had also killed some 
deer, but had seen no elk. After getting the party in mo- 
tion with the canoes. Captain Clark returned to his camp 
at Portage Creek. . . . 

July 28. Captain Clark continued very unwell during 
the night, but was somewhat relieved this morning. On ex- 
amining the two streams, it became difficult to decide which 
was the larger, or the real Missouri: they are each ninety 
yards wide, and so perfectly similar in character and appear- 
ance that they seem to have been formed in the same mould. 
Jefferson. We were therefore induced to discontinue the name of Mis- 
and GaUa- souri, and give to the southwest branch tiie name of Jefferson, 
tin Rivers, jn honor of the President of the United States, the projector 



Democracy and Expansion 261 

of the enterprise; and called the middle branch Madison, 
after James Madison, secretary of state. These two, as well 
as Gallatin River, run with great velocity, and throw out 
large bodies of water. Gallatin River is, however, the most 
rapid of the three, and, though not quite as deep, navigable 
for a considerable distance. Madison River, though much 
less rapid than the Gallatin, is somewhat more rapid than 
the Jefferson: the beds of all of them are formed of smooth 
pebble and gravel, and the waters are perfectly transpar- 
ent. . . . 

The greater part of the men, ha^•ing yesterday put their 
deerskins in water, were this day engaged in dressing them, 
for the purpose of making clothing. . . . 

July 30. Captain Glark was this morning much re- 
stored; and, therefore, ha\ing made all the observations 
necessary to fix the longitude, we reloaded our canoes, and 
began to ascend Jefferson River. . . . 

Here, as had been previously arranged, Captain Lewis left 
us, with Sergeant Gass, Chaboneau, and Drewyer, intending 
to go in advance in search of the Shoshonees. . . . 

In the mean time we proceeded on slowly, the current 
being so strong as to require the utmost exertions of the 
men to make any advance, even with the aid of the cord and 
pole, the wind being from the northwest. The channel, cur- 
rent, banks, and general appearance of the ri\er are like 
that of yesterday. . . . 

From a careful observation of the direction and character 
of these streams, he became satisfied that the middle one was 
the best to be taken by the canoes, and left a note for 
Captain Clark to that effect. The party in the canoes 
proceeded onward as usual, finding but little change in the 
country, killing game as they had opportunity for their sub- 
sistence, and encountering many difficulties from the ripples 
and shoals of the river. The men were becoming much en- 
feebled from the severity of their labours and being con- 
stantly in the water. . . . 

We arrived at the forks about four o'clock, but, unluck- 



2G2 Readings in American History 

ily, Captain Lewis's note had been attached to a green pole, 
which the beaver had cut down, and carried off with the note 
on it: an accident which deprived us of all information as to 
the character of the two branches of the river. Observing, 
therefore, that the northwest fork was most in our direction, 
we ascended it. We found it extremely rapid, and its waters 
were scattered in such a manner that for a quarter of a mile 
we were forced to cut a passage through the willow-brush 
that leaned over the little channels and united at the top. 
After going up it for a mile, we encamped on an island which 
had been overflowed, and was still so wet that we were com- 
pelled to make beds of brush to keep ourselves out of the 
mud. Our provision consisted of two deer which had been 
killed in the morning. . . . Here we were joined by Drewyer, 
who informed us of the state of the two streams, and of Cap- 
tain Lewis's note, when we immediately began to descend 
the river, in order to take the other branch. In going down 
one of the canoes upset, and two others were filled with 
water, by which all the baggage was wet, and several articles 
irrevocably lost. As one of them swung round in a rapid 
current, Whitehouse was thrown out of her, and while down 
the canoe passed over him, and, had the water been two 
inches shallower, would have crushed him to pieces; but he 
escaped with a severe bruise of the leg. In order to repair 
these misfortunes, we hastened to the forks, where we were 
joined by Captain Lewis. . . . We were now completely sat- 
isfied that the middle branch was the most navigable, and 
the true continuation of the Jefferson. The northwest fork 
seems to be the drain of the melting snows of the mountains : 
we called it Wisdom River. . . . 
Beaver's On our right is the point of a high plain, which our In- 

dian woman recognizes as the place called the Beaver's Head, 
f^-om a supposed resemblance to that object. This, she says, 
is not far from the summer retreat of her countrymen, which 
is on a river beyond the mountains, and running to the west. 
She is therefore certain that we shall meet them either on 
this river or on that immediately west of its source, which, 



Head. 



Democracy and Expansion 



263 



judging from its present size, cannot be far distant. Per- 
suaded of the absolute necessity of procuring horses to cross 
the mountains, it was determined that one of us should pro- 
ceed in the morning to the head of the river, and penetrate 
the mountains till he found the Shoshonees or some other na- 
tion who can assist us in transporting our baggage, the greater 
part of which we shall be compelled to leave without the aid 
of horses. . . . From the foot of one of the lowest of these 
mountains, which rises with a gentle ascent of about half a 
mile, issues the remotest water of the Missouri. 

They had now reached the hidden sources of that river, 
which had never before been seen by civilized man; and as 
they quenched their thirst at the chaste and icy fountain — as 
they sat down by the brink of that little rivulet, which 
yielded its distant and modest tribute to the parent ocean, 
they felt themselves rewarded for all their labours and all 
their difficulties. They left reluctantly this interesting spot, 
and, pursuing the Indian road through the interval of the 
hills, arrived at the top of a ridge, from which they saw high 
mountains, partially covered with snow, still to the west of 
them. 

The ridge on which they stood formed the dividing-line 
between the waters of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. They 
followed a descent much steeper than that on the eastern 
side, and at the distance of three quarters of a mile reached 
a handsome, bold creek of cold, clear water running to the 
westward. They stopped to taste, for the first time, the 
waters of the Columbia; and, after a few minutes, followed 
the road across steep hills and low hollows, when they came 
to a spring on the side of a mountain. Here they found a 
sufficient quantity of dry willow-brush for fuel, and there- 
fore halted for the night; and, having killed nothing in the 
course of the day, supped on their last piece of pork, and 
trusted to fortune for some other food to mix with a little 
flour and parched meal which was all that now remained of 
their provisions. ... In this way they marched two miles, 
when they met a troop of nearly si.xty warriors, mounted on 



Search for 
the Sho- 
shonees. 



Head- 
waters of 
the Mis- 
souri. 



Head- 
waters of 
the Colum- 
bia. 



2G4 



Readings in American History 



The Sho- 
shonees. 



Reach the 

Pacific 

Ocean. 



excellent horses, riding at full speed towards them. As they 
came forward, Captain Lewis put down his gun, and went 
with the flag about fifty paces in advance. The chief, who 
with two men was riding in front of the main body, spoke 
to the women, who now explained that the party was com- 
posed of white men, and showed exultingly the presents 
they had received. The three men immediately leaped from 
their horses, came up to Captain Lewis, and embraced him 
with great cordiality, putting their left arm over his right 
shoulder, and clasping iiis l)ack, applying at tlie .same time 
their left cheek to his, and frequently vociferating "ail hi e! 
ah hi e!" "I am much pleased, I am much rejoiced." The 
whole body of warriors now came forward, and our men re- 
ceived the caresses, and no small share of the grease and 
paint, of their new friends. After this fraternal embrace, of 
which the motive was much more agreeable than the man- 
ner. Captain Lewis lighted a pipe, and offered it to the In- 
dians, who had now seated themselves in a circle around the 
party. . . . 

This rapid forms the last of the descents of the Columbia; 
and immediately below it the ri\er widens, and tide-water 
commences. . . . 

November 7. The morning, proceeds the narrative, was 
rainy, and the fog so thick that we could not see acro.ss the 
river. . . . We had not gone fur from this village when, the 
fog suddenly clearing away, we were at last presented with the 
glorious sight of the ocean — that ocean, the object of all our 
labours, the reward of all our anxieties. This animating 
sight exhilarated the spirits of all the party, who were still 
more delighted on hearing the distant roar of the breakers. 
We went on with great cheerfulness along the high, moun- 
tainous country which bordered the right bank: the shore, 
however, was so bold and rocky, that we could not, imtil at 
a distance of fourteen miles from the last village, find any 
spot fit for an encampment. Having made during the day 
thirty-four miles, we now spread our mats on the ground, 
and passed the night in the rain. Here we were joined by 



Democracy and Expansion 265 

our small canoe, which had been separated from us during 
the fog this morning. . . . 

Having now examined the coast, it became necessary to 
decide on the spot for our winter-quarters. . . . 

57. Robert Fulton and the First Steamboat 

Experiments made by two Americans, James Rumsey (1785) and 
John Fitch (1790), proved that boats could be driven by steam. 
In 1804 OUver Evans experimented with a stern-wheel steamboat 
on the Delaware River, and at the same time John C. Stevens was 
experimenting with a screw propeller on the Hudson. When he 
was asked what was the greatest event of the nineteenth century, 
Lord Acton, then Professor of History at Cambridge, England, is 
said to have answered: "The accidental sinking of Fulton's steamer 
in the River Seine in 1804. If it had been successful Napoleon 
would have been able to land his forces wherever he pleased and 
the conquest of the British Isles might have followed." Robert 
Fulton, a native of Pennsylvania, at the close of the Revolution, 
went to England, where he was engaged for a time as a painter of 
portraits. In 1793 he assisted James Watt in the construction of 
steam-engines. In 1794 he went to Paris, where, with the assistance 
of Robert R. Livingston, he constructed a steamboat. The first 
trial of the boat before a committee appointed by Napoleon was a 
failure. Later trials were successful, but Napoleon took no further 
interest in it. Fulton returned to America and again aided by 
Livingston constructed the Clermont. 

The writer of the following account was a Scotchman who trav- 
elled extensively in America. — (James Stuart, Three Years in North 
America, I, 45 passim. Glasgow, 1833.) 

Fulton, who unquestionably had the merit, the great merit, Honor due 
of accomplishing what many ingenious men had previously ^""'0°- 
unsuccessfully attempted, is well entitled to the lasting gratir- 
tude of the people of the United States; and it will not b^- 
to their credit, if the general government do not, in the end; 
make some great and liberal provision for the fapiily of an 
individual, who was so, great a benefactor of his own couur 
try, and: of the world; It is as well established, that Fulton 
first of all adapted the steam engine to the model of such a 
vessel as would answer the purpose, as that many able men 
had previously pretty clearly perceived that the thing w£(,s 



266 Readings in American History 

possible, although they could not exactly hit on the method 
of doing it. . . . 
Aids to It was thus undoubtedly left for Fulton, in the nineteenth 

century, to confer on his country and the world the great 
boon of steam navigation; but let those who assisted him 
have their due share of praise. Henry Bell of Glasgow either 
gave him the model of the vessel which made the first voyage, 
or aided him most materially in her construction. Messrs. 
Boulton, Watt, and Co. of Birmingham, manufactured the 
engine used in her. And Chancellor Livingston, of the state 
of New York, encouraged the undertaking, although at the 
time laughed at as a wild speculation, and assisted Fulton 
with the pecuniary means for carrying it into execution. 
The difficulties he after all encountered were such, that, 
though the engine was furnished in the year 1804, it was not 
until the summer of 1807 that it was put to use in the vessel, 
the Clcnnonf, of 160 tons, in which, on the Hudson, the 
first steamboat voyage in the world was made. Fulton's 
letter to his friend, Joel Barlow, giving an account of that 
experimental voyage, is extremely interesting. 

" New York, August 2, 1807. 
"My Dear Friend, 
Trip to "My steamboat voyage to Albany and back has turned 

A bany. ^^^ rather more favourable than I had calculated. The dis- 
tance from New York to Albany is 150 miles; I ran it up in 
thirty-two hours, and down in thirty hours; the latter is just 
five miles an hour. I had a light breeze against me the whole 
way going and coming, so that no use was made of my sails, 
and the voyage has been performed wholly by the power of 
the steam engine. I overtook many sloops and schooners 
beating to windward, and passed them as if they had been 
at anchor. 

"The power of propelling boats by steam is now fully 
proved. The morning I left New York, there were not per- 
haps thirty persons in the city who believed that the boat 
would ever move one mile an hour, or be of the least utility; 



Democracy and Expansion 267 

and while we were putting off from the wharf, which was 
crowded with spectators, I heard a number of sarcastic re- 
marks. This is the way, you know, in which ignorant men 
compliment what they call philosophers and projectors. 

"Having emploj^ed much time, and money and zeal, in ac- Fulton's 
complishing this work, it gives me, as it will you, great pleas- p'*°^- 
ure to see it so fully answer my expectations. It will give a 
cheap and quick conveyance to merchandise on the Missis- 
sippi and Missouri, and other great rivers, which are now lay- 
ing open their treasures to the enterprise of our countrymen. 
And although the prospect of personal emolument has been 
some inducement to me, yet I feel infinitely more pleasure 
in reflecting with you on the immense advantage that my 
country will derive from the invention." 

It is not very creditable to the spirit of enterprise, for Progress in 
which Great Britain and the United States, the two greatest ^t^imboat 
commercial nations, take credit, to find that several years not rapid, 
elapsed after the power of propelling vessels by steam was 
thus in 1807 completely proved, before any attempt to con- 
struct a steam-vessel in Britain was made, and before steam- 
boats appeared on the great western rivers of America, for 
the navigation of which they are, above all, admirably cal- 
culated. . . . 

The State of New York was early sensible of the great Monopoly 
services which Fulton had rendered; and conferred on him a |[e^*Yorif 
most valuable monopoly, — the exclusive right to navigate in 
the waters of the state with steam-vessels for a term of 
years; if I remember right, till the year 1838. It was sub- 
sequently, indeed, found, after a keen litigation in the su- 
preme court of the United States, that no separate state 
could establish such a monopoly, — the general government 
alone having power, by the American constitution, " to regu- 
late commerce among the several states." New York state, 
however, it is undeniable, showed their feeling of lasting obli- 
gation to their meritorious countryman, and their desire to 
see him suitably rewarded; . . . 



268 



Readings in American History 



58. Inauguration of President Madison 

From the Diaries and Family Letters of Mrs. Samuel Harrison 
Smith. — (Scribner's Magazine, XL, September, 1906, p. 299 passim.) 



To-day after the inauguration, we all went to Mrs. Madi- 
son's. The street was full of carriages and people, and we had 
to wait near half an hour, before we could get in, — the house 
was completely filled, parlours, entry, drawing room and bod 
room. Near the door of the drawing room Mr. and Mrs. 
Madison stood to receive their company. She looked ex- 
tremely beautiful, was drest in a plain cambric dress with a 
very long train, plain round the neck without any handker- 
chief, and beautiful bonnet of purple velvet, and white satin 
with white plumes. She was all dignity, grace, and affabil- 
ity. Mr. Madison shook my hand with the cordiality of old 
acquaintance. The crowd was immense both at the Capitol 
& here, thousands & thousands of people thronged the 
avenue. The Capitol presented a gay scene. Every inch of 
space was crowded & there being as many ladies as gentle- 
men, all in full dress, it gave it rather a gay than a solemn 
appearance, — there was an attempt made to appropriate par- 
ticular seats for the ladies of public characters, l)ut it was 
found impossible to carry it into effect, for the sovereign 
people would not resign their privileges & the high & low 
were promiscuously blended on the floor & in the galleries. 

Mr. Madison was extremely pale & trembled excessively 
when he first began to speak, but soon gained confidence & 
spoke audibly. From the Capitol we went to Mrs. M's, & 
from there to Mr. Jefferson's. 

Sunday morning. Well, my dear Susan, the chapter draws 
to a close. Last night concluded the important day, on which 
our country received a new magistrate. To a philosopher, 
who while he contemplated the scene, revolved past ages in 
his mind, it must have been a pleasing sight. A citizen, 
chosen from among his equals, and quietly and unanimously 



Democracy and Expansion 209 

elevated to a power, which in other countries and in all ages 
of the world has cost so much blood to attain! 

Last evening, I endeavored calmly to look on, and amidst 
the noise, bustle and crowd, to spend an hour or two in 
sober reflection. 

The room was so terribly crowded that we had to stand on First inau- 
benches ; from this situation we had a view of the moving ^"''^' '^^"' 
mass, for it was nothing else. It was scarcely possible to 
elbow your way from one side to another, & poor Mrs. Madi- 
son was almost pressed to death, for every one crowded round 
her, those behind pressing on those before & peeping over 
their shoulders to have a peep of her, & those who were so 
fortunate as to get near enough to speak to her were happy 
indeed. As the upper sashes of the windows could not let 
down, the glass was broken, to ventilate the room, the air 
of which had become oppressive, but here I begin again at 
the end of the story. Well, to make up for it I will begin 
at the beginning. When we went there were not above 50 
persons in the room, we were led to benches at the upper 
fire place. 

Not long afterwards, the musick struck up Jefferson's 
March, & he & Mr. Coles entered. He spoke to all whom 
he knew, & was quite the plain, unassuming citizen. Madi- 
son's March was then played & Mrs. Madison led in by 
one of the managers & Mrs. Cutts & Mr. Madison, she 
was led to the part of the room where we happened to 
be, so that I accidentally was placed next her. She looked 
a queen. She had on a pale buff colored velvet, made 
plain, with a very long train, but not the least trimming, 
& beautiful pearl necklace, earrings & bracelets. Her head 
dress was a turban of the same coloured velvet & white 
satin (from Paris) with two superb plumes, the bird of para- 
dise feathers. 

It would be absolutely impossible for any one to behave 
with more perfect propriety than she did. Unassuming dig- 
nity, sweetness, grace. It seems to me that such manners 
would disarm envy itself, & conciliate even enemies. The 



270 Readings in American History 

managers presented her with the first number, — " But what 
shall I do with it?" said she, " I do not dance." " Give it to 
your neighbor," said Capt. Tingey. "Oh no," said she, 
"that would look like partiality." "Then I will" said the 
Capt. & he presented it to Mrs. Cutts. I really admired this 
in Mrs. M. She was led to supper by the French minister, 
Mrs. Cutts by the English minister, she sat at the centre of 
the table, which was a crescent, the French and English min- 
isters on each hand, Mrs. Cutts the next on the right hand, 
Mrs. Smith the next on the left and Mr. Madison on the 
other side of the table opposite Mrs. M. I chose a place 
where I could see Mrs. M. to advantage. She really in man- 
ners and appearance, answered all my ideas of royalty. She 
was so equally gracious to both French and English, and so 
affable to all. I suspect Mrs. Smith could not like the su- 
periority of Mrs. Cutts, and if I am not mistaken, Mrs. 
Madison's causes her some heart burnings. Mr. Jeffer- 
son did not stay above two hours; he seemed in high spirits 
and his countenance beamed with a benevolent joy. I do 
believe father never loved son more than he lo\es Mr. Madi- 
son, and I believe too that every demonstration of respect to 
Mr. M. gave Mr. J. more pleasure than if paid to himself. 
Oh he is a good man! And the day will come when all 
party spirit shall expire, that every citizen of the United 
States will join in saying "He is a good man." Mr. Madi- 
son, on the contrary, seemed spiritless and exhausted. While 
he was standing by me I said "I wish with all my heart I 
had a little bit of seat to offer you." "I wish so too," said 
he, with a most woe begone face, and looking as if he could 
scarcely stand, — the managers came up to ask him to stay 
to supper, he assented, and turning to me, "but I would 
much rather be in bed" said he. Immediately after supper 
Mr. and Mrs. M. withdrew, the rest of the company danced 
until 12, the moment the clock struck that hour, the music 
stopped, and we all came home tired and sick. " And such," 
said I, as I threw myself on the bed, " such are the gaity and 
pleasures of the world! Oh give me the solitude of our cot- 



Democracy and Expansion 271 

tage, where after a day well spent, I lay down so tranquill 
and cheerful." Never do I recollect one night, retiring with 
such a vacuum, such a dissatisfied craving, such a restless- 
ness of spirit, such undefined, vague desires, as I now do. 



CHAPTER XVII 



THE WAR OF 1812 



59. British Justification of the War of 1812 



(Hansard, Parliamentary Debates, First Series, Vol. 24, 374-7.) 

Declaration of his Royal Highness the Prince Regent 
Relative to the Causes and Origin of the War with America. 

After this exposition of the circumstances which preceded, 
and which have followed the declaration of war by the United 
States, His royal highness the Prince Regent, acting in the 
name and on the behalf of his Majesty, feels himself called 
upon to declare the leading principles, by which the conduct 
of Great Britain has been regulated in the transactions con- 
nected with these discussions. 

His Royal Highness can never acknowledge any blockade 
whatsoever to be illegal, which has been duly notified, and is 
supported by an adequate force, merely upon the ground of 
its extent, or because the forts or coasts blockaded, are not 
at the same time invested by land. 

His Royal Highness can never admit, that neutral trade 
with Great Britain can be constituted a public crime, the 
commission of which can expose the ships of any power what- 
ever to be denationalized. 

His Royal Highness can never admit, that Great Britain 
can be debarred of its right of just and necessary retaliation, 
through tlie fear of eventually affecting the interest of a 
neutral. 

His Royal Highness can never admit, that in the exercise 
of the undoubted and hitherto disputed right of searching 
neutral merchant vessels in time of war, the impressment of 

272 



The War of 1812 



273 



British seamen, when found therein can be deemed any vio- 
lation of a neutral flag. Neither can he admit, that the taking 
such seamen from on board such vessels, can be considered 
by any neutral state as a hostile measure, or a justifiable 
cause of war. 

There is no right more clearly established, than the right Naturai- 
which a sovereign has to the allegiance of his subjects, more g^it^h °^ 
especially in time of war. Their allegiance is no optional seamen 
duty, which they can decline, and resume at pleasure. It is 
a call which they are bound to obey: it began with their 
birth, and can only terminate with their existence. . . . 

But, if to the practice of the United States to harbour 
British seamen, be added their assumed right, to transfer the 
allegiance of British subjects, and thus cancel the jurisdiction 
of their legitimate sovereign, by acts of naturalization and 
certificates of citizenship, which they pretend to be as valid 
out of their own territory, as within it, it is obvious that to 
abandon this ancient right of Great Britain, and to admit 
these novel pretensions of the United States would be to 
expose to danger the very foundation of our maritime 
strength. . . . 

The government of America, if the difference between The chrs- 
States are not interminable, has as little right to notice the apeake. 
affair of the Chesapeake. The aggression, in this instance, 
on the part of a British officer, was acknowledged, his con- 
duct was disapproved, and a reparation was regularly ten- 
dered by Mr. Foster on the part of his Majesty, and accepted 
by the government of the United States. 

It is not less vmwarranted in its allusion to the mission of 
INIr. Henry; a mission undertaken without the authority, or 
even knowledge of his Majesty's government and which Mr. 
Foster was authorized formally and officially to disavow. 

The charge of exciting the Indians to offensive measures British 
against the United States, is equally void of foundation, in^jjans 
Before the war began, a policy the most opposite had been 
uniformly pursued, and proof of this was tendered by Mr. 
Foster to the American government. 



274 Readings in American History 

Such are the causes of war which have been put forward by 
the government of the United States. But the real origin 
of the present contest will be found in the spirit, which has 
long unhappily actuated the councils of the United States: 
their marked partiality in palliating and assisting the aggres- 
sive tyranny of France; their systematic endeavours to in- 
flame their people against the defensive measures of Great 
Britain; their ungenerous conduct towards Spain, the inti- 
mate ally of Great Britain; and their unworthy desertion of 
the cause of other neutral nations. It is through the preva- 
lence of such councils, that America has been associated in 
policy with France, and committed in war against Great 
Britain. 

And under what conduct on the part of France has the 
government of the United States thus lent itself to the 
enemy? The contemptuous violation of the commercial 
treaty of the year 1800, between France and the United 
States; the treacherous seizure of all American vessels and 
cargoes in every harbour subject to the control of the French 
arms; the tyrannical principles of the Berlin and Milan 
Decrees, and the confiscations under them; the subsequent 
condemnations under the Rambouillet Decree, antedated or 
concealed to render it the more effectual: The French com- 
mercial regulations which render the traffic of the United 
States with France almost illusory ; the burning of their mer- 
chant ships at sea, long after the alleged repeal of the French 
Decrees — all these acts of violence on the part of France pro- 
duce from the government of the United States, only such 
complaints as end in acquiescence and submission, or are ac- 
companied by suggestions for enabling France to give the 
semblance of a legal form to her usurpations, by converting 
them into municipal regulations. 

This disposition of the government of the United States 
— This complete subserviency to the ruler of France — This 
hostile temper towards Great Britain — are evident in almost 
every page of the official correspondence of the American 
with the French government. 



The War of 1812 275 

Against this course of conduct, the real cause of the present 
war, the Prince Regent solemnly protests. Whilst contending 
against France, in defence not only of the liberties of Great 
Britain, but of the world, his Royal Highness was entitled to 
look for a far different result. From their common origin — 
from their professed principles of freedom and independence, 
the United States were the last power in which Great Britain 
could have expected to find a willing instrument, and abettor 
of French tyranny. 

Disappointed in this his just expectation, the Prince Regent 
will still pursue the policy, which the British Government 
has so long, and invariably maintained, in repelling injustice, 
and in supporting the general rights of nations; and, under 
the favour of Providence, relying on the justice of his Cause, 
and the tried loyalty and firmness of the British Nation, his 
Royal Highness confidently looks forward to a successful 
issue to the contest, in which he has thus been compelled 
most reluctantly to engage. 

Westminster, Jan. 9, 1813. 



PARLIAMENT AND WAR WITH AMERICA 

(From the London Courier of February 19, 1813. Quoted in Niles, 
Weekly Register, vol. IV, 136.) 

"An unanimous vote of both houses of Parliament last 
night, approved of the war with America sanctioning its 
justice, and determined to support the government in a 
vigorous prosecution of it. We conceive, and heartily con- 
gratulate the country upon it, that Parliament did last night, 
give a solemn pledge to the people of the British empire, that 
at no time under no circumstances, for no advantages, polit- 
ical or commercial, however great, will it yield, barter or 
fetter the exercise of our great maritime rights — the right of 
search and the right of impressment." 



276 



Readings in American History 



60. Favorable View of War 



Just cause 
for war. 



Submis- 
sion of 
Americans 
to abuses. 



(Niles, Weekly Register, II, 208, 209.) 

Every considerate and unprejudiced man, in every part of 
the union, freely admits we have just cause for war with both 
the great belligerents, and especially England; whose mara- 
time depredations are not only far more extensive than those 
of her rival, but who has superadded thereto the most flagrant 
violations of the individual, national, and territorial rights of 
the American people; matters of much higher import and 
consequence. But a state of war is desired by no man; 
though most men agree it is not "the greatest of evils." . . . 

It is very certain that no good citizen of the United States 
would wantonly promote a rupture with Great Britain, or 
any other country. The American people will never wage 
offensive war; but every feeling of the heart is interested to 
preserve the rights our fathers won by countless hardships 
and innumerable sufferings. Our love of peace is known to 
the world; nay, so powerful is the desire to preserve it, that 
it has been laughingly said, even in the hall of congrass, that 
"we cannot be kick'd into war." Every measure that For- 
l)earance could devise, has been resorted to — and we have 
suffered injuries, particularly in the stealth of our citizens, 
which no independent nation ever submitted to. Embargo 
was tried: through the timidity of the 10th Congress, excited 
by the insolent clamors of a small, but wicked, portion of the 
people, aided by the inefficiency of the laws for enforcing it, 
it failed of its foreign operation. Since that time we have 
\irtually submitted, and thereljy only lengthened the chain 
of encroachment. As has been before observed, we are 
driven into a corner, and must surrender at the discretion of 
a wicked and unprincipled enemy, or hew our way out of it — 
the hazard of life itself is preferable to the certain loss of all 
that makes it desirable. . . . 

To us she is the most vulnerable of all nations — we can 
successliillv attack her at home and abroad. War will de- 



The War of 1812 



277 



prive her of an immense stock of raw materials, on the manu- 
facture and apphcation of which so great a portion of her 
population depends for subsistence; and, in despite of smug- 
glers, the ingress of her manufactures will be denied, for a 
state of activity and exertion far different from that at present 
made use of, will be arrayed against them. Already are her 
laboring poor in a state of general disaffection for the want of 
bread and lack of employment. The military power is daily 
made use of to keep them in subordination. To what ex- 
tremes might the desperation of the starving wretches lead 
them, if to their present privations were added those which 
must ensue from a war with these states? 

The conquest of Canada will be of the highest importance 
to us in distressing our enemy — in cutting off his supplies of 
provisions and naval stores for his West India colonies and 
home demand. There is no place from whence he can sup- 
ply the mighty void that would be occasioned by the loss of 
this country, as well in his exports as imports. It would 
operate upon him with a double force: it would deprive him 
of a vast quantity of indespensable materials (as well as of 
food) and close an extensive market for his manufactures. — 
On its retention depends the prosperity of the West India 
islands. — At war with the Ignited States, and divested of sup- 
plies of lumber and provisions from Canada, their commerce 
would be totally ruined ; and it is of far more importance to 
the British government than all their possessions in the East. 
Besides it would nullify his boast, "that he has not lost an 
inch of territory." Canada and Nova Scotia, if not fully 
conquered immediately, may be rendered useless to him in a 
few weeks. Without them, and particularly the latter, he 
cannot maintain those terrible fleets on our coast that we are 
threatened with, or "bridge" our harbors with frigates, ad- 
mitting he may have no use for them to defend his own shores ; 
for he will not have a dock yard, fitting the purposes of his 
navy, within 3000 miles of us. . . . 

The war will not last long. Every scheme of taxation has 
already been resorted to in Great Britain. E^■ery means ha\c 



Great 
Britain 
open to 
attack. 



English 
conditions. 



Conquest 
of Canada 
certain. 



War will 
be short. 



278 



Readings in American History 



Develop- 
ment of 
manufac- 
tures. 



been tried to sustain the credit of her immense paper currency. 
The notes of the bank of England are 28 per cent below their 
nominal value. A war with the United States will add a 
third to her present expenditures, at least; and, in a like pro- 
portion render her unable to bear them. — Her revenue will 
decrease as her expenses increase; for she will lose all the 
export and import duties she levied on goods sent to or re- 
ceived from the United States, and all her resources, built 
upon commerce will be fluctuating and uncertain. She will 
be assailed on that element she arrogantly assumes as her 
own, and be perplexed in a thousand new forms, by a people 
as brave and more enterprising and ingenious than any she 
can boast of. Her seamen once landed upon our shores, as 
prisoners or otherwise, will not return to her; and her naval 
officers will rarely feel themselves safe from mutiny while 
hovering on our coasts. It is considered lawful in w^ar to 
encourage such enterprises; and her impressed seamen, sure 
of our asylum, with " peace, liberty, and safety," will retort 
upon their oppressors some of the pangs they have suffered. 
— Tens of thousands of her former subjects, natives of gener- 
ous and oppressed Erin, will remember the conflagration of 
their cottages and the murder of their friends, and vie with 
each other to avenge their wrongs: and Britain, to preserve 
herself, will be compelled to honest peace. 

During the war there will be ample employment for all. 
Some part of the labor and capital of the United States, at 
present devoted to commerce, will be directed to objects cal- 
culated to seal the independence of the country, in the estab- 
lishment of a thousand works, needful to the supply of our 
wants. — Many years must elapse before any shall, of neces- 
sity, be idle because he cannot find enough to do; and the 
contest itself will create new sources of emolument. Some 
changes in the habits of the people on the sea board (a small 
part of our population) may take place; but there will be 
nothing terrible in them. Our agriculturalists will have a 
steady and better market at home: of this we are easily as- 
sured when we reflect that all our provisions exported have 



The War of 1812 



279 



not produced more than paid for the foreign liquors we con- 
sumed. Instead of senchng tobacco, (the most wretched 
crop of all others ever raised) to the fluctuating markets of 
Europe, we will furnish ourselves, and (in a short time) the 
whole world, with wool; and apply the extra laborers to its 
manufacture — a state of things that will have a powerful 
tendency to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate negro, 
equally profitable to his master. The bonds which fasten us 
to Europe will be broken, and our trade and future inter- 
course with her be materially and beneficially changed. 

The political atmosphere being purged, a greater degree of Political 
harmony will exist; and the regenerated spirit of freedom ^nl^nsue. 
will teach us to love, to cherish and support our unparalleled 
system of government, as with the mind of one man. The 
hydra party, generated by foreign feelings, will die in agonies. 
The "new army" will be chiefly employed in the conquered 
countries, or on the frontiers, and the protection of the states, 
generally, be confided to the people themselves, who are not 
"their own worst enemies." Neither the men beyond "the 
Potomac," nor on this side of that river, are the instigators 
of the war — the causes for it exist in the conduct of the cabinet 
of St. James', nourished and cherished by the false hopes they 
entertain of the strength of "their party" in the United 
States. 

Money will not be wanting. The people will freely supply Money 
it when there is need for it. Our country is rich. Our re- 
sources are great. Our specie is abundant, and will greatly 
increase by opening a direct trade with Mexico ; and so serve 
ourselves and the patriots of that country by furnishing them 
with arms and ammunition and stores, and enable them to 
drive out their many-headed tyrant. Numerous hardy vol- 
unteers, as true as ever pulled a trigger, will flock to their 
standard, from the western states — and encourage in them an 
affection for this government and teach them how free men 
should fight. 

But the money drawn from the people, either by loans or 
moderate taxes, will not moulder away and perish; it will 



plentiful. 



280 Readings in American Hisiory 

immediately revert to them, and always be ready, by a per- 
petual motion, to supply the wants of the government. In 
fact, the great probability is, that money will be much more 
plenty, as the common saying is, in a state of war than it is 
at this time. . . . 



61. The Capture of Washington, 1S14 

(Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith, Diaries and Family Letters, edited 
by Claiilard Hunt, Scribner's Magazine, XL, October, 1900, 42r)-4:}7.) 

August [1814], Brookville [Md.]. 
On Sunday we received information that the British had 
debark'd at Benedict. They seem'd in no haste to approach 
the city, but gave us time to collect our troops. The alarm 
was such that on Monday a general removal from the city & 
George Town took place, ^^ery few women or children re- 
main'd in the city on Tuesday evening, altho' the accounts 
then received were that the enemy were retreating. Our 
troops were eager for an attack & such was the cheerful alac- 
rity they display 'd, that a universal confidence reign'd among 
the citizens & people. Few doubted our conquering. On 
Tuesday we sent off to a private farm house all our linen, 
clothing & other movable property, in the afternoon Dr. 
Bradley's family came from the city & took tea with us, — the 
Dr. said several citizens from the camp brought informa- 
tion of the enemy's remaining quiet at N. Malborough, but 
that 3 of the volunteer companies, . . . ,* Davidsons & 

Peters were order'd to attack the Pickets & draw the B 

on to a general engagement. This was the last news; until 
we were roused on Tuesday night by a loud knocking, — on the 
opening of the door, Willie Bradley called to us, "The enemy 
are advancing, our own troops are giving way on all sides & 
are retreating ^n the city. Go, for Gods sake go." f He 
spoke in a voice of agony, ic then flew to his horse & was out 
of sight in a moment. We immediately rose, the carriage & 

♦ Illegible. t The battle took place August 24. 



Tlw War of 1812 281 

horses were soon ready, we loaded a wagon with what goods 
remained & about 3 o'clock left our house with all our serv- 
ants, the women we sent to some private farm houses at a 
safe distance, while we pursued our course. I felt no alarm 
or agitation, as I knew the danger was not near. I even felt 
no distress at the idea of forsaking our home. I could not 
realize the possibility of the B. gaining possession of the city, 
or of our army being defeated. We travel 'd very slowly & as 
it was dark I walk'd part of the way. Ann was equally com- 
posed. At sunrise we stop'd to breakfast at Miss Carrol's & 
then pursued our journey. The girls were quite delighted 
with our flight, novelty has such charms at their age, that 
even the exchange of comfort & peace, for suffering & dis- 
tress, has its charms. Even for myself, I felt animated, in- 
vigorated, willing to encounter any hardship, calmly to meet 
any danger, patiently to bear any difficulty. I suffer'd con- 
siderably pain during the ride & fear'd every moment being 
taken ill, but happily I was not, & we all reach'd this place at 
one oclock in perfect health. We received a most kind recep- 
tion from Mrs. Bently, & excellent accomodations. The ap- 
pearance of this village is romantic & beautiful, it is situated 
in a little valley totally embosom'd in woody hills, with a 
stream flowing at the bottom on which are mills. In this 
secluded spot one might hope the noise, or rumour of war 
would ne\er reach. . . . 

Thursday morning. This morning on awakening we were city 
greeted with the'sad news, that our city was taken, the bridges 
& public buildings burnt, our troops flying in every direction. 
Our little army totally dispersed. Good God, what will be 
the event! This moment a troop of horse have enter'd, they 
were on the field of battle, but not engag'd. Major Ridgely* 
their commander, disapproving Genl. Winder's order, refused 
to ol)ey, left the army & is taking his troops home. . . . 

Just as we were going to dinner, a tremendous gust arose, 
it has broken the trees very much, in the midst of it, a wagon 
came to the door with a family going they knew not whither. 
* One of the Maryland militia oflBcers. 



burned. 



282 Readings in American History 

Poor wanderers. Oh how changed are my feehngs, my con- 
fidence in our troops is gone, they may again be ralHed, but 
it will require a long apprenticeship to make them good sol- 
diers. Oh my sister how gloomy is the scene. I do not sup- 
pose Government will ever return to Washington. All those 
whose property was invested in that place, will be reduced 
to poverty. Mr. Smith had invested a large portion of his 
in bridge stock, — both the bridges are destroy'd, — it serves 
to beguile the time to write, so my dear sister I will write a 
kind of journal to you, & send it when I can. I wish you to 
keep it. If better times come, it will serve to remind me of 
these. . . . 

... I am afraid the consequence of leaving the house 
empty will be its destruction. Our house in the city too is un- 
protected & contains our most valuable furniture. In a week 
more & we may be penniless! For I count little on the con- 
tinuance of Mr. S's salary. God only knows when the execu- 
tive government will again l)e organized. But I can say with 
truth, the individual loss of property, has not given me a 
moment's uneasiness. But the state of our country, has 
wrung tears of anguish from me. I trust it will only be mo- 
mentary. We are naturally a bra\e people & it was not so 
much fear, as prudence which caused our retreat. Too late 
they discovered the dispreparation of our troops. The enemy 
were 3 to 1. Their army composed of conquering veterans, 
ours of young mechanics & farmers, many of whom had ne^'er 
before carried a musket. But we shall learn the dreadful, 
horrid trade of war. And they will make us a martial people, 
for never, never will Americans give up their liberty. But 
before that time comes, what sufferings, what reverses, what 
distress must be suffer'd. Already, in one night, have hun- 
dreds of our citizens l)een reduced from affluence to poverty, 

for it is not to be expected W^ will ever again be the seat 

of Govt. Last night the woods round the city & G. T 

were filled with women & children & old men & our flying 
troops. One poor woman, after wandering all night, found 
at day light she wander'd 10 miles, — a lady in our neighbour- 



The War of 1812 283 

hood, the wife of one of Mr. S.'s clerks went out of her senses, 
her son was in the army. Mrs. Genl. Mason, that lovely 
woman whom you knew, is likewise laying dangerously ill. 
Her husband was in the engagement & her anxiety has ren- 
der'd a common fever dangerous. I am going to-morrow to 
see her. 

Night, 10 o'clock. The streets of this quiet village, which General 
never before witnessed confusion, is now fill'd with carriages ^°° usion. 
bringing out citizens. & Baggage waggons & troops. Mrs. 
Bentley's house is now crowded, she has been the whole even- 
ing sitting at the supper table, giving refreshment to soldiers 
& travellers. I suppose every house in the village is equally 
full. I never saw more benevolent people. " It is against 
our principles," said she this morning," to have anything to 
do with war, but we receive & relieve all who come to us." 
The whole settlement are quakers. The table is just spread 
for the 4th or 5th time, more wanderers having just en- 
ter'd. . . . 

Just at bed time the Presd. had arrived & all hands went 
to work to prepare supper & lodgings for him, his companions 
& guards, — beds were spread in the parlour, the house was 
filled & guards placed round the house during the night. A 
large troop of horse likewise arrived & encamp'd for the 
night, beside the mill-wall in a beautiful little plain, so em- 
bosom'd in woods & hills. The tents were scatter'd along 
the riverlet & the fires they kindled on the ground & the 
lights within the tents had a beautiful appearance. All the 
villagers, gentlemen & ladies, young & old, throng'd to see 
the President. He was tranquil as usual, & tho' much dis- 
tressed by the dreadful event, which had taken place not 
dispirited. He advised Mr. Smith to return to the city, 
whither he was himself going. Mr. Monroe & some other 
gentlemen join'd him & about noon he set off for our suffer- 
ing city. The rest of the day we pass'd tranquilly. It is 
now night, all around is quiet. All the inhabitants of this 
peaceful village sleep in peace. How silent! How serene! 
the moonlight gilds the romantic landscape that spreads 



284 Readings in American History 

around me. Oh my God, what a contrast is this repose of 
nature, to the turbulence of society. How much more dread- 
ful is the war of man with man, than the strife of elements. 
On Thursday the hurricane which blew down houses, tore up 
trees & spread terror around, pass'd in a few minutes & 
nature recovered her tranquility. But oh my country, when 
will the destroying tempest which is now ravaging & destroy- 
ing thy property & happiness, when will that be hushed to 
peace! At this moment, escaped from danger, I, & my fam- 
ily, all I hold most dear, are safe. But when I think of my 
good fellow citizens, when I think of our poor soldiers, flying 
on every part, sinking under fatigue & pain & hunger, dying 
alone & unknown, scattered in woods & fields — when I think 
of these horrors, I can hardly enjoy my own security. . . . 

. . . We afterwards look'd at the other public buildings, 
but none were so thoroughly destroy 'd as the House of 
Representatives & the President's House. Those beautiful 

pillars in that R Hall were crack'd & broken, the roof, 

that noble dome, painted & carved with such beauty & skill, 
lay in ashes in the cellars beneath the smouldering ruins, were 
yet smoking. In the P. H. not an inch, but its crack'd & 
blacken'd walls remain'd. That scene, which when I last 
visited it, was so splendid, throng'd with the great, the gay, 
the ambitious placemen, & patriotic Heros was now nothing 
but ashes, & was it these ashes, now trodden under foot by 
the rabble, which once possess'd the power to inflate pride, 
to gratify vanity. Did we ever honour the inhal)itants of 
this ruin the more for their splendid habitation, — was this 
an object of desire, ambition, envy? Alas, yes, and this is 
human grandeur! How fragile, how transitory ! Who would 
have thought that this mass so solid, so magnificent, so grand, 
which seem'd built for generations to come, should by the 
hands of a few men & in the space of a few hours, be thus ir- 
reparably destroy 'd. Oh vanity of human hopes! After this 
melancholy survey, Mr. Smith went to see the President, 
who was at Mr. Cutts' (his brother in law) where we found 
Mrs. Madison & her sister Mrs. Cutts. Mrs. M. seem'd 



The War of 1812 285 

much depress'd, she could scarcely speak without tears. She 
told me she had remained in the city till a few hours before 
the English enter'd. She was so confident of Victory that 
she was calmly listening to the roar of cannon, & watching 
the rockets in the air, when she perceived our troops rushing 
into the city, with the haste & dismay of a routed force. 
The friends with her then hurried her away, (her carriage 
being previously ready) & she with many other families, 
among whom was Mrs. Thornton & Mrs. Cutting with her, 
retreated with the flying army. In George town they per- 
ceived some men before them carrying off the picture of 
Genl Washington (the large one by Stewart) which with the 
plate, was all that was saved out of the President's house. 
Mrs. M. lost all her own property. The wine, of which there 
was a great quantity, was consumed by our own soldiers. . . . 

. . . And this could have been done, & our poor soldiers inferior 
were willing & able for any enterprise, but their commanders, •®^'^®™- 
— Ah their commanders, Armstrong & Winder — on their 
shoulders lies the blame of our disastrous flight & defeat. 
Our men were all eager to fight & were marching on with a 
certainty of victory, more than 2000 had not fired their 
muskets, when Armstrong & Winder gave the order for a re- 
treat, & to enforce that order added terror to authority! 
Tiie English officers have told some of our citizens that they 
could not have stood more than 10 minutes longer, that they 
had march'd that day 13 miles, & were exhausted with thirst, 
heat & fatigue. It is said 2 Irish regiments wish'd to be 
taken & were on the point of joining us when the retreat 
commenced. I have conversed with many of our officers & 
men. All agree in this statement, that the troops wish'd to 
fight, & were full of spirit & courage. The English expected 
great resistance. Yesterday when in the city I conversed 
with a great many citizens, they were all desponding, dis- 
hearten'd. The President is determined on making a re- 
sistance in case the enemy return. But our citizens sent a 
deputation begging him not to attempt it, as it would be in- 
effectual, & would only be making them & the roofs that 



286 Readings in American History 

shelter'd them a sacrifice. "Tliey now," they said, "had 
neither honor or property to h)ose. All they valued was 
gone." The President's orders, however, were enforced & 
all day yesterday while I was in the city 1 saw them collecting. 
Universal execration follows Armstrong, who it is believed 
never wished to defend the city & I was assured that had he 
pass'd thro' the city the day after the engagement, he would 
have been torn to pieces. The district certainly was not in 
a state of preparation, whether from want of ability or want 
of inclination on the part of the administration we can not 
know. The city was capable of defence & ought to have been 
defended. But we will retrieve, yes I trust we will retrieve 
our character & restore our capital. 

62. New York City, 1811 

During the year 1796 Timothy Dwight, president of Yale College, 
travelled in various sections of Connecticut and Massachusetts. 
This was the beginning of a series of journeys which he made during 
the vacation periods of succeeding years. His purpose was, as he 
says, to furnish those who might live one hundred years hence "the 
means of enabling them to know what was the appearance of their 
country during the period occupied by my journeys. . . . The col- 
onization of a wilderness by civilized men, where a regular govern- 
ment, mild manners, arts, learning, science, Christianity, have been 
interwoven in its progress from the beginning, is a state of things of 
which the eastern continent and the records of past ages, furnish 
neither an example nor a resemblance. The conversion of a wilder- 
ness into a desirable residence for man is an object which no intelli- 
gent spectator can behold without being strongly interested in such 
a combination of enterprise, patience, and perseverance. Few of 
those human efforts, which have excited the applause of mankind, 
have demanded equal energy or merited equal approbation." — 
(Timothy Dwight, Travels in America, Vol. Ill, 430 passim.) 

New York The streets of New York have unhappily followed, in 
streets. many instances, its original designation of a fishing and trad- 
ing village. The streets are generally wider, and less crooked, 
than those of Boston, but a great proportion of them are 
narrow and winding. 

Broadway, which commences at the battery, proceeds over 



The War of IS 12 



287 



New York 
residences. 



the highest ground, l)etween the two rivers, about two miles 
in a straight line, and is the noblest avenue of this nature in 
North America. . . . The number of dwelling houses in this 
city may be estimated at 12,680.* They are generally new, 
compared with a great part of those in Boston, and as a body 
are better buildings, although very few of them (and none 
within my observation) are equal in beauty to the modern- 
built houses in that town. The public buildings in this city Public 
are, besides others, fifty-five churches. Twelve of these, in- b^i^iog^- 
eluding the old French Protestant Church, are Episcopal; 
seven belong to the Dutch, seven to the Presbyterian, five 
to the Scotch Reformed Church, and eight to the Baptists, 
of which six are considered as regular and two as irregular. 
Seven regular churches belong to the Methodists; there are 
also two or three smaller congregations, calling themselves 
Methodists, which meet in private rooms, but are not ac- 
knowledged. There is one congregation of Blacks among the 
Baptists, and one among the Methodists. There are also 
the Friends' meeting-houses, one German Lutheran Church, 
one German Calvinist, one IMoravian, one Universalist, one 
Roman Catholic, one [Roman Catholic] now building, one 
Jewish Synagogue. 

The other public buildings are a city hall, the gaol, the 
state prison, the bridewell, the alms-house, new alms-house,' 
the hospital, the college, the free school-house, an orphan 
asylum, the public library, the custom-house, the United 
States arsenal, the State arsenal, two theatres, the banks, 
the city hotel, the tontine coffee-house, the halls, occupied 
by the Washington, Mechanics, and Tammany societies. 

The city-hall, although not the most perfect piece of archi- City Hall, 
tecture, is the most superb building in the United States. 
This elegant structure was begun in 1803, by order of the 
corporation, and finished at the sole charge of the city in 
1812 at an expense of 520,000 dollars. 

The hospital is an establishment honourable both to the Hospital, 
city and the state. It is under the management of twenty- 
* The population of New York, in 1810, was 96,000. 



288 Readings in American History 

six governors, who meet on the first Tuesday of every month 
and whose services are gratuitous. 

AppUcants for admission must bring a recommendation 
from a governor, physician, or surgeon of the hospital, or, 
if citizens of the state, and not residents in the city, from a 
justice of the peace, and one or more overseers in the town 
or city where they reside. ... 

An asylum for lunatics is annexed to this institution. 

Since the year 1799, sick and disabled seamen, at the port 
of New York, are received into the Hospital, and enjoy all 
its advantages. . . . 

The asylum is also of stone, ninety feet in length, forty 
feet wide in the centre and sixty-five in the wings. This 
building is well constructed for the comfort and safety of the 
patients, and those employed in the management, is well 
warmed, and is made perfectly secure from fire. 

In Greenwich Street, about two miles from the southern 
point of the city, stands the State Prison. This structure is 
of free stone, and of the Doric order. It contains fifty-four 
rooms for prisoners, twelve feet by eighteen; a large room for 
public worship, and apartments for the use of the keeper; 
beside fourteen solitary cells, six feet by eight, and fourteen 
in height. In the rear of the building is a manufactory, con- 
taining workshops for the prisoners, two hundred feet in 
length and twenty in breadth, of two stories. . . . 

Murder and treason are now the only crimes which are 
made capital by the laws of this State. Felonies of all other 
descriptions, together with most other subordinate offences 
are punished by confinement in this prison; felonies, by im- 
prisonment for life. 

The government of the State Prison is committed to seven 
inspectors, who appoint their own clerk, and an indefinite 
number of keepers. The convicts are dressed in uniform, 
and are comfortably fed and clothed, and the sexes are kept 
separate. They are employed in various kinds of mechanical 
and manufacturing business. The inspectors perform their 
services gratuitously. 



The War of 1812 2S9 

The building, commonly known by the name of the Bride- BrideweU. 
well, is occupied in its middle apartments by the keeper and 
his family. The east wing or end, is called the Bridewell, and 
the west end, the City Prison. The latter is divided into 
ten small rooms, two large ones, and a connnon hall, and is 
appropriated by those who are committed, to await their 
trial, or who have been tried and sentenced to imprisonment 
without labour. 

The two large rooms are the abodes of vagrants chiefly, 
who do the menial duties required }>y the whole establish- 
ment. The prisoners in the city prison mix promiscuously in 
the day-time but are ordered to their respective rooms at 
sun-set. The former (the Bridewell) is divided into four 
large rooms, two on a floor, and is the receptacle of all who 
are confined by sentence to hard labour. The crimes for 
which Bridewell furnishes the punishment are various sorts 
of misdemeanors; such as libel, assault and battery, obtain- 
ing goods by false pretences etc. etc. and all felonies less than 
grand larceny, which is the title of the theft when the goods 
stolen exceed 12 dollars 50 cents in value. The term of 
imprisonment in the Bridewell for any offence is not to ex- 
ceed three years. Imprisonment may, at the discretion of 
the court, be substituted in all cases, in which they are au- 
thorized to inflict corporeal chastisement for that punish- 
ment. 

A whipping-post was erected a few years since in the 
Bridewell yard, but the infliction of the punishment was found 
to be so revolting to the feelings of the commimity, that the 
post has been removed. The employment of the prisoners 
in Bridewell is the picking of oakum. The tasks are given 
out to the rooms before sun-rise, and the punishment for 
idleness, or refractoriousness, is diminishing the allowance 
of food. The whites are divided from the blacks, who usually 
constitute a moiety; and the males from the females, the 
latter being numerically proportioned to the former in a 
ratio not less than three to two. Those who labour in Bride- 
well are confined to their respective rooms. The corporation 



olent 
societies 



290 Readings in American History 

of the city may, however, direct the convicts to be employed 
on the pubHc works. Tiiey are frequently seen chained to 
wheel-barrows, and occupied in repairing roads between New 
York and Haarlem. The vagrants mentioned as performing 
the menial offices are usually street beggars, and idle persons 
who cannot give a good account of themselves. The aver- 
age number of prisoners is about one hundred and fifty. . . . 
Benev- There is in this city a great number of societies, formed 

professedly for benevolent purposes. Among these is the 
Tammany Society, or Columbian Order; professedly estab- 
lished to afford relief to persons in distress. Its principal 
business is, however, believed to be that of influencing elec- 
tions. 

The Washington Benevolent Society, though really em- 
ployed in many benevolent purposes, is substantially a 
political association. 

The Humane Society was formed for the relief of poor 
debtors, principally by supplying them with food and 
fuel. . . . 

The Ladies' Society, for the relief of poor widows with 
small children was formed in 1797; and has pursued its 
designs on wise principles, with much activity, and with 
great effect. In their efforts they combine the diffusion of 
well-directed charity with an energetic encouragement of 
industry and morals. 

The Dispensary is an excellent institution, intended to 
provide relief for such indigent sick persons, in their own 
dwellings, as are unable to procure it for themselves, and are 
yet not proper objects for admittance into the Aims-House 
or the Hospital. Probably no institution has done more 
good, with means of the same extent. 

The Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen is, also, a chari- 
table institution for the benefit of its members. . . . 

The Sailors Snug Harbour is a benevolent institution, 
which well deserves to be particularly mentioned. In the 
year 1801, Captain Robert Richard Randall gave, by devise, 
the principal part of his estate to trustees, for the purpose 



The War of 1812 291 

of establishing an asylum for the maintenance and support 
of aged, decrepid, and worn-out sailors. The estate was 
valued at 50,000 dollars; and the devise is to be put into 
operation whenever the trustees shall judge the interest 
sufficient for the maintenance of fifty sailors. 

A society was formed some years since for the purpose of 
diffusing extensively the Vaccine Inoculation. After the busi- 
ness was completely established, and the prejudices against 
it were overcome, it was placed under the care of the City 
Dispensary. 

At the head of the literary institutions in New York is Educa- 
Columbia College. The building in which it is established j^Jis^^y. 
stands on a tract, given to it originally by the rector of the tions. 
Episcopal congregation in this city, and the inhabitants in 
communion with the Church of England, or what is now 
called the corporation of Trinity Church; the richest ecclesi- 
astical body, it is believed, in the United States. . . . It's 
name was King's College. Originally it was intended to 
furnish only the education generally given in seminaries of 
this class. Since 1783, a medical institution has been an- 
nexed to it, which at first, was under the direction of five 
professors. 

In the year 1807, the regents of the university of New York, 
to whom, exclusively, is committed the superintendence of 
learning and science in this State, and the power of instituting 
such seminaries as they think proper, established a college 
of physicians and surgeons in the city of New York. 

A third institution of the same general nature has been also 
formed in this city, if I mistake not, by a collection of medical 
gentlemen voluntarily associated. The two former of these 
have been lately united. 

Under the care of the trustees of the college of physicians 
and surgeons is placed, by legislative authority, a botanic 
garden, in the interior of the island, called the Elgin Botanic 
Garden. This establishment owes its existence to Dr. David 
Hosack, professor of botany and materia medica in the col- 
lege. It was begun in 1801. In 1810, the legislature passed 



292 



Readings in American Hvifory 



Secondary 
education. 



Academy 
of Fine 
Arts 



an act, directing, that the establishment should be purchased 
for the state at an appraisement; and it was accordingly 
purchased for 74,268 dollars 75 cents, exclusive of plants, 
trees, shrubs, etc., estimated at 12,000 dollars more. 

The Academical Faculty [Columbia College], or as it is 
here styled, the Faculty of the Arts, consists of a president, 
a provost, and four professors; one of moral philosophy, one 
of classical literature, one of mathematics and natural 
philosophy, and one of logic, rhetoric and belles-lettres. 

The whole number of those who have taken the degree of 
A. B. in this college, to the year 1776 inclusive, was 110. 
For ten years the course of education was interrupted by the 
revolutionary war, and its consecjuences. From the years 
1786 when its operations commenced again under the name 
of Columbia College, to the year 1814 inclusive, the whole 
number was 502. . . . 

Of the schools it is impossil)le for me to give any satisfac- 
tory account. No system of school education has ever been 
adopted by the inhabitants, nor anything which resembles a 
system; except that there are se\'eral charity schools, belong- 
ing to the Episcopal, Dutch, and Presbyterian congregations, 
and a school on the Lancastrian plan, under the patronage, 
as I believe, of the city corporation, and containing, at differ- 
ent times, from five to seven hundred scholars. In other 
cases, schools are generally established in this manner: — An 
individual, sometimes a liberally-educated student, having 
obtained the proper recommendations, offers himself to some 
of the inhabitants as a schoolmaster. If he is approved, and 
procures a competent number of subscribers, he hires a room, 
and commences the business of instruction. Sometimes he 
meets with little, and sometimes with much encouragement. 
I am acquainted with no spot in the United States, where a 
schoolmaster of reputation will find his business more profita- 
ble, unless perhaps at Charleston, South Carolina. 

There is in this city a society entitled an Academy of Arts. 
With the state of its operations I am unaccjuainted, except 
that it has purchased, or has in its possession, imitations of 



Tlie War of 1812 293 

several fine specimens of ancient scuplture, and some other 
rarities of a similar nature. 

There is here also an Historical Society; the peculiar ob- Historical 
ject of which is to obtain, preserve, and publish, whatever ^o*^'®*'^- 
may throw light upon the history of this state. 

There is, also, a Library Society in this city, whose style Library, 
is "The Trustees of the New York Society's Library." The 
library consists of more than ten thousand volumes, and is 
continually increasing. 

There is another institution in this city, in the highest orpiian 
degree honourable to the ladies by whom it was originated, ^y'"""* 
Its style is "The Orphan Asylum Society." . . . 

The plan pursued is, to bind girls as servants, from the 
time they can read and write until they are eighteen, and the 
boys until they are fifteen; at which time they are bound as 
apprentices to mechanics. 

The principal markets in New York are Fly market and 
Bear market. There are six or seven smaller ones in other 
parts of the city. They are all under the control of the 
mayor, and are very well regulated. The supplies are abun- 
dant of flesh and fish, of fruits and vegetables. 

There are eight Banks: — . . . Banks. 

There are eight Insurance Companies: — ... f 

There is in this city a Chamber of Commerce, which was 
formed April 5th, 1768. . . . This body regulates merchants' 
commissions, adjusts mercantile disputes among the members, 
regulates the amount of damages on the non-payment of 
exchange, etc. 

There are between three and four "liundred vessels, esti- shipping, 
mated on an average at forty tons each, employed continually 
on Hudson's river throughout the mild season. 

The foreign commerce of this city is carried on with every 
part of the world to which its ships can find access, and is 
universally acknowledged to be fair and honourable. . . . 

Abstract of Exports from the State of New York during 
Ten Years, almost all of them from the City. 



294 



Readings in American History 



Water 
communi- 
cation. 



Steam- 
boad). 



Society. 



1801 
1807 
1808 
1810 



19,851,136 dollars. 
26,357,963 
5,606,058 
17,242,330 



Abstract of the duties collected in the city of New York 
during the same period. 

1801 4,978,490 dollars. 

1807 7,613,700 

1808 3,605,372 
1810 5,232,707 

. . . Almost all the marketable articles of New York are 
brought to it by water, and nearly the whole of its imports are 
conveyed into the different parts of the country in the same 
manner. The coasting vessels of the Hudson, New-England, 
and New-Jerse}', appear to the Eye to be numberless. So 
long ago as 1793, six hundred and eighty-three vessels en- 
tered this port from abroad, and one thousand three hundred 
and eighty-one coastwise ... in 1795, nine hundred and 
forty-one foreign. Independently of the restrictions upon 
commerce adopted by the national government, the number 
of both has been continually increasing, and in all probability 
will continue to increase through centuries to come. 

Hardly any sight is more rare or more beautiful than the 
steam-boats, which move on the waters connected with New 
York; and which began their first operation, deserving of any 
notice, at this place. 

. . . The economy of the inhabitants is I think less re- 
markable, and less universal, than their industry. A mag- 
nificent and expensive style of living is adopted by manj' of 
the citizens, which in a considerable number of instances has 
plainly outrun the convenience, and sometimes the property, 
of those by whom it has been practised. Still by far the 
greater number are economical, and continually increasing 
their property. . . . 

The furniture and carriages of many of the inhabitants are 
rich and beautiful. . . . Until lately, almost all the coaches 
were private property. Hackney coaches are now employed 



The War of 1812 



295 



Languages 
spoken. 



in considerable numbers, and riding is a favourite amuse- 
ment of the citizens. ... 

A great part of the citizens merit the character of sobriety, 
and the number is not small of those who on the best grounds 
are believed to be religious. Many of the churches are regu- 
larly filled when the weather is tolerably pleasant and the 
number of those who frequent them has been increasing for 
a series of years. . . . 

The language spoken in this city is very various. When 
passing through the streets, you will hear English, French, 
Dutch, and German, and all the various brogues spoken by 
the numerous nations mentioned above,* when imperfectly 
acquainted, as most of them are, with the English tongue. 

. . . The general attachment to learning is less vigorous 
in this city than in Boston: commerce having originally 
taken a more entire possession of the minds of its inhabitants. 
The character of New York, however, has for some time been 
materially changing in this respect, and is still changing. . . . 
Wealth also, in a much higher degree than good sense can standard 
justify, is considered as conferring importance and distinc- ° ^®* 
tion on its owner. This prepossession is a blast upon all 
improvement of the mind, for it persuades every one in whom 
it exists, that such improvement is insignificant and useless. 

The amusements in New York are the same as in other Amuse- 
cities, and occupy as much time, attention, and expense as °^^°*'^- 
would ordinarily be pleaded for by the veriest votary of 
pleasure, and more than can be admitted by religion or com- 
mon sense. Theatrical entertainments, assemblies, balls, 
concerts, etc., are extensively objects of attachment. Visit- 
ing watering places, riding, sailing, shopping, and frequent- 
ing various spectacles, intended to kill time, and to enable 
the authors to live in idleness, are favourite pursuits. Travel- 
ling, also, is a considerable object of attention to the more 
intelligent part of the inhabitants, during the mild season. 
A number of the citizens are annually seen upon the race 



* Irish, Scotch, Swedes, Danes. Italians. Portuguese, Spaniards, and 
West Indians. 



296 Readings in American History 

grounds, near Haarlem, and on Hempstead plain. Such of 
them as are, or wish to be sportsmen, hunt grouse, and deer 
upon Long Island, and catch trout in its waters. Since the 
establishment of steam-boats e.xcursions by water up the 
Hudson, into New-Jersey, and into New-England, have be- 
come favourite amusements. . . . 



CHAPTER XVIII 

REORGANIZATION, WESTWARD MIGRATION, AND 
INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS, 1815-1825 

63. Political and Social Life, 1817 

Henry Bradshaw Fearon came to America in June, 1817, as the 
representative of thirty-nine Enghsh families. His mission was to 
investigate places which might be suitable for settlement. His treat- 
ment of conditions in America show that he was fair-minded and 
his statements are in contrast to some of the other travellers of the 
period. — (H. B. Fearon, Sketches of America, pp. 139-159. London, 
1818.) 

The present candidates for the office of governor are each Election 
of them of the democratic party. General Hiester is of the [feiphia." 
moderate faction, and is also supported against his opponent 
by the federalists and quids. Mr. Finlay has the powerful 
aid of the unyielding democrats; and, though he is in the 
minority in the proportion of one to three within the city of 
Philadelphia, Httle doubt is entertained of his election's 
having been carried by a large majority through the State 
at large. . . . The general election is preceded by an elec- 
tion in the different wards of officers called Inspectors, whose 
business it is to receive the ballot ticket of voters: parties 
try their strength in this first step. I witnessed the mode of 
voting: the persons choosing inspectors attend at a stated 
place in their own ward, and deliver in their ballot through a 
window. The number assembled at any one time did not 
exceed twenty. There was no noise, no confusion, in fact, 
not even conversation. I was astonished to witness the 
anxiety felt by leading men, that their party should be elected 

297 



298 Readings in American History 

inspectors. The eventual choice at the general election 
seemed, in fact, in their estimation, actually to rest upon the 
having "Inspectors" of their own party. I remarked to 
them that it could be of no consequence of what party these 
gentlemen were, as they were protected from partial or cor- 
rupt conduct by the mode of voting being by ballot. One of 
them informed me afterwards, that the fact of the inspectors 
being on one side or the other had been calculated to make a 
difference of upwards of 200 votes in a particular section! — 
arising from the reception of improper, and the rejection of 
good votes. The means by which an inspector can effect 
this, though the mode is by ballot, is said to be remarkably 
exact. . . . An announcement, called "The Ticket," issues 
from this Caucus a few days before the election; in this case 
there were three of these " tickets," severally headed, Federal, 
Republican, and Democratic. The federalists sent to an ac- 
quaintance of mine their "ticket," enclosed in the following 
circular letter; though I would remark, that canrassing, in 
the English meaning of that word, is not allowed: — 

"Fellow Citizen, 

"The exercise of the elective franchise is at all times a 
privilege of the highest value : — on the present occasion every 
federalist has an opportunity to aid in dispelling prejudices — 
in lessening the malignity of party spirit — in restoring the 
right of free election, and of resisting those dangerous abuses in 
government, introduced by office holders, which if not promptly 
and steadily checked, threaten to become inveterate and irreme- 
diable. Let every man be vigilant, active, and firm, on this 
day, and success will crown our efforts. 

"The inspectors have resolved to open the poll precisely 
at 9 o'clock. 

"October 14, 1817." 

The democratic party adopt the same mode. I enclose 
you two of their circulars. These documents, as well as 
others which will follow, are, perhaps, better calculated than 



Reorganization 299 

any other plan which I could adopt, to put you in possession 
of the state of parties, their mode of conduct and feelings 
toward each other, and also the general political condition 
of the whole people. 

[Circular.] 

"Sir, 

"We enclose you the Democratic Ticket, which is recom- 
mended by the delegates and conferrees fairly chosen, after 
public notice. We request you to vote it and give it all the 
SUPPORT to which you may deem it entitled. We consider 
THIS election as involving the most important consequences. 
Federalism, conscious of its own feebleness and inability to 
wrestle with the strength of democracy, has made a union 
with a FEW disappointed men; hoping through them to turn 
over, not only this city and district, but the State and 
Union to Federal misrule. 

" Be careful to bring loith you your receipt for county tax. 
If a naturalized citizen, be sure to bring your certificate 
of naturalization, as it will, in all probability, be required. 
These cautions are deemed more than ever necessary, from 
the shameful conduct and persecuting spirit manifested by 
the Federal Judges, at the late ward election. Be on the 
ground early. It is of an importance, that every citizen votes, 
because it may be that a vote would carry a candidate." 

"Philadelphia, October 6, 1815." 

democratic address 

"Citizens, Democrats, Americans! 

" This is the day of the General Election! If you value your 
own rights, your own happiness, your political characters, 
your liberties, or your Republican institutions, every man to 
the poll, and vote the Democratic Ticket; it is headed with 
the name of the patriot William Findlay. — Citizens! the 
times are momentous! the seceders from the Democratic 
ranks have joined with our old and inveterate political 



300 Readings in American History 

enemies to put down Democracy. It is an unholy league be- 
tween apostates and political traitors on the one part, and on 
the other the anglo-federalists, the monarchists, the aristo- 
crats, the Hartford conventionalists, the blue-light men, the 
embargo-breakers, the Henryites, the men who in time 
of Peace cried out for IFar.' War! but who in time of war, 
called themselves the Peace party. — Huzza for William 
FiNDLAY, and no bribery. — A long pull, a strong pull, and a 
pull altogether." 

FEDERAL ADDRESS 

"William Findlay — 1. A selfish politician, who never 
served his country, and always on the look-out for office. 
2. An apostate federalist and time server. 3. A constant 
office hunter. 4. A treasury broker and public defaulter, 
who exchanged and iised public money for his own benefit. 
5. One who holds morality in contempt, and maintains and 
practices the maxim, that the end justifies the means. 
(5. One who has resorted to the basest falsehoods to support 
himself. 7. One loho has intrigued and bargained for the office, 
and openly electioneered for himself. 8. A state inquisitor, 
who would gag, if not immolate every man, not of his own 
sect. 9. A man who has blended the public money with his 
own, and is yet to account for misdemeanor in office. 10. A 
barbarian, who holds that 'the study of law disqualifies a 
man from being a judge.' " 

" Take notice who are the friends of William Findlay — 
1. Traitors and apostates. 2. Inveterate aristocrats. 3. 
Office holders and office hunters. 4. Cormorants for the 
loaves and fishes, and friends only to themselves. 5. Fugi- 
tives from British gaols and justice. 

" Take care!! ! — William Findlay's election will be sure: 
1. If the Republicans stay at home. 2. If they are negligent 
or timid on the election ground. 3. // election, like treasury 
frauds, are not detected and precented. 



Reorganization 301 

" Take advice, — 1. Look well to your tickets. 2. Look well 
to your boxes. 3. Look well to your tallies. 4. Look well 
to your returns; and, o. Look well to those who vote, that 
they are qualified. ..." 

The election terminated throughout the State in one day. 
The excitement of party and pecuniary feeling, by the univer- 
sality of gambling upon the occasion, was very great; yet 
there was no confusion, no disturbance. Let it be borne in 
mind, that here was the right of voting to the utmost extent, 
and exercised by a people, concerning whom it is high praise 
to say, that they are not inferior in intellect, in information, 
in honest zeal, and in temperate ideas of liberty, to the Eng- 
lish nation; yet there is much to lament here. The original 
documents given in the preceding pages are too full upon this 
point: they, indeed, are far from complimentary to our na- 
ture; but at the same time we should recollect, that in the 
political, as in the moral and natural worlds, we must endure 
evils, in order to insure a preponderance of good. The extent 
of my approbation, then, upon this occasion, is a conviction 
of the compatibility of popular election with peace and good 
order; and, if possessed by the English people, I should pre- 
sume, it would not be attended with so many abuses. 

A practice which has been often referred to in connection Redemp- 
with this country, naturally excited my attention. It is that *'*^"'"'®- 
of indi\'iduals emigrating from Europe without money, and 
paying for their passage by binding themselves to the captain, 
who receives the produce of their labor for a certain number 
of years. 

Seeing the following advertisement in the newspapers, put 
in by the captain and owners of the vessel referred to, I visited 
the ship, in company with a boot-maker of this city: 

THE PASSENGERS 

On board the brig Bubona, from Amsterdam, and who 
are willing to engage themselves for a limited time, to de- 



302 Readings in American History 

fray the expences of their passage, consist of persons of the 
following occupations, besides women and children, viz. 13 
farmers, 2 bakers, 2 butchers, 8 weavers, 3 taylors, 1 gardener, 
3 masons, 1 mill-sawyer, 1 white-smith, 2 shoe-makers, 3 
cabinet makers, 1 coal-burner, 1 barber, 1 carpenter, 1 stock- 
ing-weaver, 1 cooper, 1 wheelwright, 1 brewer, 1 locksmith. — 
Apply on board of the Bubona, opposite Callowhill-street, in 
the river Delaware, or to W. Odlin and Co. No. 38, South 
Wharves. 
Oct. 2. 

As we ascended the side of this hulk, a most revolting 
scene of want and misery presented itself. The eye invol- 
untarily turned for some relief from the horrible picture of 
human suffering, which this living sepulchre afforded. 

Mr. enquired if there were any shoe-makers on board. 

The captain advanced: his appearance bespoke his office; he 
is an American, tall, determined, and with an eye that flashes 
with Algerine cruelty. He called in the Dutch language for 
shoe-makers, and never can I forget the scene which followed. 
The poor fellows came running up with unspeakable delight, 
no doubt anticipating a relief from their loathesome dungeon. 
Their clothes, if rags deserve that denomination, actually 
perfumed the air. Some were without shirts, others had this 
article of dress, but of a quality as coarse as the worst pack- 
ing cloth. I enquired of several if they could speak English. 
They smiled, and gabbled, " No Engly, no Engly, — one Engly 
talk ship." The deck was filthy. The cooking, washing, and 
necessary departments were close together. Such is the mer- 
cenary barbarity of the Americans who are engaged in this 
trade, that they crammed into one of those Vessels 500 passen- 
gers, 80 of whom died on the passage. The price for women 
is about 70 dollars, men 80 dollars, boys GO dollars. When 
they saw at our departure that we had not purchased, their 
countenances fell to that standard of stupid gloom which 
seemed to place them a link below rational beings. From 
my heart I execrated the European cause of their removal. 



Reorganization 303 

which is thus daily compelling men to quit the land of their 
fathers, to become voluntary exiles in a foreign clime; — . . . 

, . . The Penitentiary system for the rational punishment Prisons, 
and reform of criminals, being a subject with which you are 
familiar, I shall not trouble you with the details of the humane 
and enlightened management of the gaol in this city, I visited 
it on Saturday last. The keeper accompanied me into every 
apartment, giving, as we proceeded, the most full explana- 
tions. The scene was novel, and I had almost said delightful; 
but a recollection that I was viewing the consequences of 
vicious pursuits, checks the expression, and draws a tear for 
the weakness of humanity; — yet I could not but be pleased, 
and highly so, on drawing a comparison between what I saw 
here, and what I have witnessed in the London prisons. 
Here, instead of the prisoners passing their time in idleness, 
or in low debauchery and gaming, (increased inducement to 
the after commission of crime,) all was sobriety, life, and 
activity. A comp\.ete manufacturing town was in fact col- 
lected within the narrow precincts of these otherwise gloomy 
walls. The open court was occupied by stone-cutters, 
chiefly negroes. It would appear, on first seeing this depart- 
ment only, that these were either more vicious, or more 
hardly dealt with in the courts of law, than their white coun- 
trymen. But the true reason of their numbers in the yard 
is, that few of them being mechanics, they are set to labour 
upon those things for which they are fitted, and which they 
can undertake with little previous instruction. The rooms 
in which the mechanic arts are carried on, have a very great 
proportion of whites, so that crime would by no means seem 
to be monopolized by our darker brethren. The produce of 
the labour of prisoners nearly supports the whole of this ex- 
tensive establishment. Some have earned a sufficiency by 
their own work to enable them to commence business on the 
expiration of their term of confinement. Those who conduct 
themselves with industry and propriety, receive a remission 
of part of their sentence. Several have become honest and 
useful members of society. When the gaoler spoke to the 



o()4 Readings ui American History 

prisoners they addressed him with confidence, but with proper 
respect. He is a plain intelHgent man, liberally, though not 
profusely paid for his services. To have offered him money 
for his trouble, would, I am sure, have been considered an 
insult. What a contrast does such a man afford to our 
prison-keepers, the majorit}' of whom are perhaps greater 
criminals than those over whom they tyrannize. Surely, the 
example of Pennsylvania will not be lost upon our country. 
Here is the best of all evidence, demonstrative proof, that 
brutal treatment, hangings, and gibbetting, are neither the 
most economical nor the most efficacious, as they are cer- 
tainly neither the most humane nor the most enlightened 
modes of punishing crime or reforming society; and if we 
wish to preserve the character of a feeling and enlightened 
people, we must reform that foul disgrace to England, and 
to the age in which we live — our criminal code. One fact 
in connection with the prison, I have omitted to mention; and 
as it is a characteristic trait of national character, it ought to 
be recorded — white criminals will not eat with the negroes, 
the latter therefore have a separate table. 
Hospital. P^rom this receptacle of moral e\'il, I walked to one of 

physical pain and suffering, the Pennsylvania hospital, an 
institution in every way a national honour. The medical 
reputation of the gentlemen connected with this establishment 
would be highly estimated in the first European cities. . . . 

64. The West in 1815 

Timothy Flint, who was the pastor of a Congregational church 
in Massachusetts, came as a missionary to the West in 1815. For 
five years he lived at St. Charles, some forty miles above St. Louis. 
During the succeeding five years he was the principal of a seminary 
in Louisiana. 

He was the author of a number of volumes and was referred to as 
one of tho leading writers of the time. The following description of 
the West was taken from letters addressed to James Flint, of Salem, 
Massachusetts. 

(Timothy Flint, Recollections of the Last Ten Years in the 
Valley of the Mississippi River, 6 passim.) 



Reorganization 



505 



Toward the latter part of the month, October, 1815, we 
began to ascend the Allegany hills. In our slow mode of 
traveling we had them in view several days. With their in- 
terminable blue outline, stretching hill beyond hill, and in- 
terposing to the imagination of such travelers as we were, 
a barrier to return almost as impassable as the grave, it 
may easily be imagined with what interest we contemplated 
them. . . . 

We passed these hills on the common route from Phila- 
delphia to Pittsburgh. Wliatever they wanted in sublimity, 
at the time when we passed them, they more than made up 
in the difficulty and danger of crossing them. I have no 
wish, however to fatigue you with the recital of our exertions 
in lifting the carriage up precipitous ascents, washed by the 
rains, and the still greater exertions necessary to let it down 
again. W^e passed hundreds of Pittsburgh waggons in the 
crossing. Many of them had broken axles and wheels and 
in more than one place it was pointed out to us, that teams 
had plunged down the precipices and had perished. . . . 

In the valley, between the middle and the last of the 
parallel ridges, we encountered a drove of more than a thou- 
sand cattle and swine, from the interior of Ohio; a name 
which yet sounded in our ears like the land of savages. . . . 
Except the inhabitants in the immediate vicinity of Pitts- 
burgh or other manufacturing villages, they find indifferent 
markets for their produce, and their chances for making 
money are very precarious. In healthiness, in the difficulty 
of procuring the means of subsistence, in abstemiousness, 
and in the habits of rigid industry, we compared them to our 
New England people. The intermixture of Irish, Scotch and 
Germans, has given them a singular and rather ludicrous 
dialect, in which the peculiarities of language of these several 
races are mixed. 

The first thing that strikes a stranger from the Atlantic, 
arrived at the boat-landing, is the singular, whimsical, and 
amusing spectacle, of the varieties of water-craft, of all shapes 
and structures. There is the stately barge, (or batteau) of 



Route to 
West. 



Difficul- 
ties en- 
countered. 



Cattle 
driven to 
Eastern 
marlcets. 



The 
people. 



River 
scenes at 
Pittsburg. 



306 Readings in American History 

the size of a large Atlantic Schooner, with its raised and out- 
landish looking deck. This kind of craft, however, which 
required twenty-five hands to work it up stream, is almost 
gone into disuse, and though so common ten years ago, is 
now scarcely seen. Next there is the keel-boat, of a long, 
slender, and elegant form, and generally carrying from 15 to 
30 tons. This boat is formed to be easily propelled over 
shallow waters in the summer season, and in the low stages 
of the water. Next in order are the Kentucky flats, or in 
the vernacular phrase, "broad-horns," a species of ark, very 
nearly resembling a New England pig-stye. They are 15 
feet wide, and from 40 to one hundred feet in length and 
carry from 20 to 70 tons. Some of them that are called 
family boats, and used by families in descending the river, 
are very large and roomy, and have comfortable and separate 
apartments, fitted up with chairs, beds, tables, and stoves. 
It is no uncommon spectacle to see a large family, old and 
young, servants, cattle, hogs, horses, sheep, fowls and 
animals of all kinds, bringing to recollection the cargo of the 
ancient ark, all embarked and floating down on the same 
boat. Then there are what the people call "covered sleds," 
or ferry -flats, and AUegany-skiffs carrying from eight to 12 
tons. In another place are piroques of from 2 to 4 tons 
burden, hollowed sometimes from one prodigious tree, or 
from the trunks of two trees united, and a plank rim fitted 
to the upper part. There are common skiffs, and other small 
craft, named from the manner of making them, "dug-outs," 
and canoes hollowed from smaller trees. But besides these, 
in this land of freedom and invention, with a little aid per- 
haps, from the influence of the moon, there are monstrous 
anomalies, reducible to no specific class of boats, and only 
illustrating the whimsical archetypes of things that have 
previously existed in the brain of inventive men, Avho reject 
the slavery of being obliged to build in any received form. 
You can scarcely imagine an abstract form in which a boat 
can be built, that in some part of the Ohio or Mississippi 
you will not see, actually in motion. 



Reorganization 



307 



boat com- 
petition. 



This variety of boats, so singular in form, and most of them 
apparently so frail, is destined in many instances to voyages 
of from 1200 to 3000 miles. Keel-boats, built at this place, 
start on hunting expeditions for points on the Missouri, 
Arkansas and Red River, at such distances from Pittsburgh 
as these. . . . The manners of the boatmen are as strange Boatmen 
as their language. Their peculiar way of life has given origin 
not only to an appropriate dialect, but to new modes of en- 
joyment, riot and fighting. Almost every boat, while it lies 
in the harbour has one or more fiddles scraping continually 
aboard to which you often see the boatmen dancing. 

. . . No wonder that the young along the banks of the steam- 
great streams, should detest the labors of the field, and em- 
brace every opportunity, either openly, or if minors, covertly 
to escape and devote themselves to the pernicious employ- 
ment of boating. And in this view we may account for the 
detestation of the inhabitants along these great streams 
towards steam-boats, which are every day diminishing the 
number of small boats and boatmen, and which have already 
withdrawn from the western waters, probably 10,000 from 
that employment. 

We landed at Marietta, just above the mouth of the 
Muskingum. It is a considerable village. I had letters to 
the venerable General Putnam, the patriarch of this colony. 
We were here once more in the society of those who had 
breathed the same air, had contemplated the same scenery, 
and been reared amidst the same institutions with ourselves. 
You can imagine the rapidity of discourse, the attempt of 
two or three to narrate their adventures at the same time, 
and the many pleasant circumstances attending the renewal 
of a long suspended intercourse with congenial society. 

General Putnam had moved here when it was one compact 
and boundless forest, vocal only with the cry of owls, the 
growl of bears, and the death-song of the savages. He had 
seen that forest fall under the axe, had seen commodious, and 
after that, splendid dwellings rise around him. He had 
seen the settlement sustain an inundation, which wafted 



Marietta, 

1815. 

General 

Rufus 

Putnam. 



308 Readings in American History 

awa\' the dwellings, and in some instances the inhal)itants in 
them. The cattle and all the improvements of cultivation 
were swept away. He had seen the country suffer all the 
accumulated horrors of an Indian war. He had seen its 
exhaustless fertility and its natural advantages triumph over 
all. He had seen ^Marietta make advances towards acquaint- 
ing itself with the gulf of Mexico, by floating oflf from its 
banks a number of sea vessels built there. He had seen the 
prodigious invention of steam-boats experimented on the 
Ohio, and heard their first thunder, as they swept by his 
dwelling. He had .survived to see them become so common, 
as to be no more objects of curiosity. He had witnessed a 
hundred boats, laden for New Orleans, pass by in the compass 
of a few hours. 

. . . He displayed in these remote regions, the grandeur, 
real and intrinsic, of those immortal men, who achieved our 
revolution. 

Sectional- It is well known, that a jealousy, almost a hatred of 
Yankees, prevailed among the mass of this people, during 
the late war. This feeling which had been fostered for years, 
seemed to be now dying away. . . . Fatal will it be to the 
several members of this great confederation, if the better 
informed, and those who give tone to public feeling and senti- 
ment, do not feel the necessity of attempting to eradicate 
every fibre of this root of bitterness from our soil. ... A 
native of the North has no conception of the nature and 
extent of this feeling, until he finds himself in the South and 
West. I have felt grieved to see, that too many of our books 
of travels, and most of the accounts of the West carried to 
the East, tend to foster this spirit toward these regions, on 
our part. The manner in which the slave question is agi- 
tated, keeps the embers glowing under the ashes. In my 
whole tour through this State, I experienced a frank and 
cordial hospitiality. I entered it with a share of those 
prejudices which I had probably fostered unconsciously. . . . 

No employment can be imagined more laborious, and few 
more dangerous, than this of propelling a boat against the 



ism in 
Kentucky. 



Reorganization 309 

current of such a river. It may not be amiss to record some Ascent of 
of the circumstances of labour and peril, for the growing dis- sDoi'Tsie 
use of all other but steam-boats will soon render these de- 
scriptions but little more than matter of past history. At 
one time you come to a place in the current, so swift that no 
force of oars and poles can urge the boat through it. You 
then have to apply, what is commonly called here a "cor- 
delle," which is a long rope fastened at one end to the boat, 
thrown ashore, and seized by a sufficient number of hands to 
drag or track the boat up the stream. But, owing to the 
character of the river, and the numberless impediments in 
it and on its banks, this "cordelle" is continually entangling 
among the snags and sawyers, between the boat and the 
shore, and has often to be thrown over small trees, and car- 
ried round larger ones. Of course it requires great experi- 
ence and dexterity to be a good leader of a cordelle. The 
service is extremely well adapted to the French boatmen. 
Sometimes you are impeded by vast masses of trees, that have 
lodged against sawyers. At other times, you find a consider- 
able portion of the margin of the shore that has fallen into 
the ri\er, with all its trees upon it. Just on the edge of these 
trees, the current is so heavy as to be almost impassable. . . . 
Let no deluded emigrant imagine that he can work a boat up 
this river, without great patience, expense, and labor, and 
after all, without danger. The danger and fatigue in this 
kind of boating are undoul)tedly greater than those of sea 
navigation. I do not remember to have traversed this river 
in any considerable trip, without having heard of some fatal 
disaster to a boat. The multitude of carcasses of boats, 
lying at the points, or thrown up high and dry on the muck- 
heaps demonstrate most palpably, how many boats are lost 
on this wild, and as the boatmen always denominate it, 
"wicked ri\'er." 

In the spring, one hundred boats have been numbered. River life, 
that loaded in one day at the mouth of the Bayou, at New 
IVIadrid. I have strolled to the point on a spring evening, 
and seen them arriving in fleets. The boisterous gaiety of 



310 Readings in American History 

the hands, the congratulations, tlie moving picture of life on 
board the boats, the numerous animals, large and small 
which they carry, their different loads, the evidence of the 
increasing agriculture of the country above, and more than 
all, the immense distances which they have already come, 
and those which they have still to go, afforded to me copious 
sources of meditation. You can name no point from the 
numerous rivers of the Ohio and the Mississippi, from which 
some of these boats have not come. In one place there are 
boats loaded with planks, from the pine forests of the south- 
west of New York. In another quarter there are the Yankee 
notions of Ohio. From Kentucky, pork, flour, whiskey, 
hemp, tobacco, bagging, and bale-rope. From Tennessee 
there are the same articles together with great quantities of 
cotton. From Missouri and Illinois, cattle and horses, the 
same articles generally as from Ohio, together with peltry 
and lead from Missouri. Some boats are loaded with corn 
in the ear and in bulk; others with barrels of apples and 
potatoes. Some have loads of cider. There are dried fruits, 
every kind of spirits manufactured in these regions, and in 
short, the products of the ingenuity and agriculture of the 
whole upper country of the west. They have come froiVi 
regions, thousands of miles apart. The surfaces of the boats 
cover some acres. The hands travel about from boat to 
boat, make inquiries, and acquaintances, and form alliances 
to yield mutual assistance to each other, on their descent 
from this to New Orleans. After an hour or two passed in 
this way, they spring on shore to raise the wind in town. It 
is well for the people of the village if they do not become 
riotous in the course of the evening. . . . 

Types of America inherits, I believe from England a taste for puffing. 

schools" '^"^^ ^^^ improved upon her model. ... I have been amused 
in reading puffing advertisements in the newspapers. A lit- 
tle subscription school, in which half the pupils are abece- 
darions is a college. There is the Pestalozzi establishment 
with its appropriate emblazoning. There is the agricultural 
school, the missionary school, the grammar box, the new way 
to make a wit of a dunce in six lessons and all the mechanical 



Reorganization 311 

ways of inoculating children with learning that they may not 
get it in the old natural way. The misfortune is, that these 
vile pretensions finally induce the people to believe that there 
is a royal road to learning. The parents are flattered, de- 
ceived and swindled. Puffing pretenders take the place of 
the modest man of science who scorns to compete with him 
in these vile acts. The children have their brains distended 
with the "east wind" and grow up at once empty and con- 
ceited. These founders of new schools, for the most part, 
advertise themselves from London, Paris, Philadelphia, and 
have all performed exploits in the regions whence they came, 
and bring the latest improvements with them, as to what 
they can do and what they will do, the object is to lay on 
the coloring thick and threefold. A respectable man wishes 
to establish himself in a school in these regions. He consults 
a friend who knows the meridian of the country. The advice 
is, call your school by some new and imposing name. Let 
it be understood that you have a new wa^ of instructing 
children, by which they can learn twice as much in half the 
time as by the old ways. Throw off all modesty. Move the 
water and get in while it is moving. In short, depend upon 
the gullibility of the people. A school modelled on this ad- 
vice was instituted at St. Louis while I was there, with a very 
imposing name. The masters, professors I should say, pro- 
posed to teach most of the languages and all the sciences. 
Hebrew they would communicate in twelve lessons, Latin 
and Greek with a proportionate promptness. These men 
who were to teach all this themselves had read Erasmus with 
a translation and knew the Greek alphabet. . . . 

65. The Steamboat and Its Influence on Western 
Trade Conditions 

(House Executive Documents, 1st Session, 50th Congress, 1887-8, 
Vol. 20, 187, passim.) 

The first experiment with steam in the navigation of the steam- 



western rivers created surprise and excitement, but it did 

not give complete satisfaction. The truth is that it was rivers. 



boats on 
Western 



312 



Ueadingfi in American llisiory 



Successful 
steam- 
boating. 



Plan for 

steamboat 

monopoly. 



neither a perfect success, nor yet a failure. The growing 
commerce of the river demanded something l)etter than the 
flat-boats and barges, and the merchants and nierciiandise 
of the valley having the necessary means and animated by 
the spirit of enterprise, did not hesitate to continue to ex- 
periment in the hope of finally solving the problem of steam 
navigation up the ]Mississippi and its tributaries. The ex- 
periment period lasted for five years. In that time nine ex- 
pensive steam-boats were built, and while each succeeding 
boat was a decided advance on that which preceded it, de- 
fects and improvements being suggested by practical experi- 
ence, steam navigation was not regarded as an assured suc- 
cess until 1817; when the steam-boat Washington made the 
trip from New Orleans to Louisville in twenty-five days. 
The trouble all along had been to stem the current success- 
fully, and this trouble the indomitable pluck and energy of 
the merchants and the skill of the mechanics finally accom- 
plished. With 1817, therefore, may be said to begin the era 
of successful steam navigation on the Mississippi. . . . 

The trip of the Washington established another point of 
the very greatest advantage to the river country— that the 
Mississippi was the heritage of the people and could not be 
monopolized by any one. A company had been formed at 
the head of which were Fulton and Livingston, who had 
made the first experiments with steam on the Ohio and Missis- 
sippi. This company obtained from the Louisiana legislature 
an act giving them the exclusive right of navigating the waters 
of Louisiana with steam-vessels for fourteen years, Avith the 
privilege of renewing their charter at the end of that time. 
Anyone violating this monopoly was subject to a fine of 1500. 
The company owned the Minn, Vesuvius, and Orleans and 
had arranged for a system of transfers at Louisville. The 
trip of the Washingion to New Orleans was in defiance of 
this law, and that steam-boat was accordingly seized when 
she arrived at "the Crescent City." The United States 
court swept away the monopoly, declared that the river was 
the heritage of the whole people, that the State of Louisiana 



Reorganization 313 

could not control it, and give its navigation to any company 
or monopoly. This decision naturally gave a great impetus 
to steam-boat building, and the next few years saw all the 
Ohio towns turning out steam-boats. ... 

The river traffic of 1814 shows that the steam-boats had influence 
so far made but little impression. There arrived at New boats^on" 
Orleans that vear, flat-boats, 598, barges, 324, steam-boats, 21 . river 
The steam-boat tonnage of New Orleans was but little over 
2 per cent, of the total. 

The receipts of New Orleans during the first year of success- 
ful steam navigation, 1816, amounted in value to $8,062, 
540. . . . 

This is independent of the produce raised in Louisiana, 
such as cotton, corn, indigo, molasses, rice, sugar, tafia or 
rum, and lumber. These were brought to the market in the 
planter's crafts, and often taken from the plantation direct 
in foreign-bound vessels, a ship loading directly with sugar 
and molasses, which thus never went through New Orleans. 
But little account was taken of this system in the commercial 
reports of the time although sea-going vessels ascended the 
river as far as Natchez for cargoes. They were, of course, of 
small size, of luit little more tonnage and draught than the 
steam-boats themseUes. 

The value of receipts shows to what extent the produce of 
the West passed through New Orleans. Cotton, which in 
later days rose to be 60 and even 75 per cent, in value of all 
the receipts, was then barely 12 per cent. At least 80 per 
cent, of the articles came from the West, that is, from the 
Ohio and the Upper INIississippi, above the Ohio. They 
represented the surplus products of the Mississippi Valley, Losses in 
for but little found any other exit to market. Much of the gauon.*""'* 
produce shipped from the W^est to New Orleans was lost m 
route. A rough estimate places the loss from disasters, 
snags, etc. at 20 per cent. IMany boats, moreover, stopped 
along the river on their way down to sell supplies to the 
planters. Thus at Natchez, flour, grain, and pork were pur- 
chased from the Kentucky boats. 



314 



Readings in American History 



Increase in 
steamboat 
tralBc. 



Flatboats 



steam- 
boats. 



From these losses and sales the shipments down the river 
in 1816, including the products of Louisiana, may be esti- 
mated at $13,875,000. 

The river traffic required 6 steam-boats, 594 barges, and 
1287 flat-boats, of an actual tonnage of 87,670. 

During all this period (1813-1814), and despite all these 
difficulties, the number of arrivals at New Orleans and the 
amount of river business on the Lower Mississippi continued 
to steadily increase. 

In regard to the steam-boats, it should be remembered that 
the steady increase in arrivals each year does not fully ex- 
press the increase in tonnage, because the boats were not 
only growing more numerous, but were increasing in size 
each year, and thus while they doubled in number between 
1825 and 1833 they more than doubled in their carrying 
capacity.* 

In regard to the flat-boats and other craft, there is no 
sufficiently definite information for most of this period. It 
should be said, however, that while the steam-boats sup- 
planted the flat-boats in many lines of trade, they did not 
entirely drive them off the river for fifteen or twenty years 
afterwards. 

During all this period when the western cities were build- 
ing steam-boats the flat-boats also were increasing in num- 
bers. They were found serviceable in carrying hay, coal, 



*RivER Trade of New Orleans, 1813-1860 



Years 


Arrivals of 
steam-boats 


Freight received 
(tons) 


Value of 
produce, 
dollars 


1813-'14 
1814-'15 
1818-'19 
1828-'29 
1838-'39 
1848-'49 
1858-'.59 
1859-'60 


21 

40 

191 

756 

1551 

2873 

3259 

3566 


67, .560 

77.220 

136,300 

247,700 

399,500 

1,009,900 

1,803,400 

2,187,560 


16,771.711 
20.757,265 
42,263,880 
81,989,692 
172,952,664 
185,211,254 



Reorganization 



315 



etc., and in reaching the interior streams. The Mississippi 
counted some hundreds of tributaries. On some of these the 
settlements were sparse, and the surplus products afforded 
at best one or two cargoes a year, and these were sent much 
more conveniently and cheaply in flat-boats than in steamers. 

The steamers had passed the flats between 1820 and 1830 
in the business transacted and the freight hauled, and from 
this time they increased the lead steadily. The number of 
flats, however, arriving at New Orleans kept but little if 
any behind the steamers, and as late as 1840 nearly a fifth 
of the freight handled in the Lower Mississippi went by flat- 
boat, keel, or barge. The early flat-boats had depended al- 
together on the current of the river to carry them down. 
The system of towing was tried in 1829, and a small steamer, 
which would be called a tug to-day, was successfully used in 
towing keel-boats up and down stream. 

The idea, however, did not seem to meet with much favor, 
the flat-boat men having a superstition that their conjunction 
with a steamer was not favorable to them, and it was reserved 
for a later generation to definitely try in the barge the system 
of towing freight up and down stream. . . . 

As the first two decades of the century showed the settle- 
ment of the Ohio basin, and a rapid increase in population 
and production, so the next two resulted in the settlement of West 
the Lower Mississippi region from Louisiana to the mouth 
of the Ohio. The removal of the Indian tribes to the Indian 
Territory, the building of levees, and the immense increase 
in the demand for cotton, hastened the development of West 
Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Northern Louisiana. 
The Western products received at New Orleans, although they 
did not fall off, constituted a smaller percentage of the city's 
total trade, while cotton and sugar became each year more 
important items commercially. In other words, the Western 
trade, while not growing less, did not increase as fast as that 
section advanced in population and production, nor as fast 
as the cotton trade. 

It was during this period that the South first began to 



Increase of 
population 
in the 



316 



Readings in American History 



insist on the sovereignty of King Cotton, and New Orleans 
claimed, like Mahomet, to be its prophet. The rapid develop- 
ment of the cotton manufacturing industries in Europe in- 
cited the planters to devote more and more acres to it, and 
it became highly profitable to cultivate cotton even on credit. 
New Orleans was overflowing with money in those flush 
times, and lent it readily, and the credit system of the South 
was firmly established, to last even to this day. The sys- 
tem became universal among the planters, particularly those 
raising cotton and sugar, and New Orleans became not only 
the lender of money at a high rate of interest, but the depot 
of Western supplies, which it advanced in large (juantities to 
the planters throughout the vast region then tril^utary to it. 
The whole agricultural country along tihe Lower Mississippi 
and its bayous and streams became, in a manner, the com- 
inercial slaves of the New Orleans factors, and were not al- 
lowed to sell to any one else or buy from them. The Western 
produce shipped down the river never stopped at the planta- 
tion, but was sent direct to New Orleans, and thence trans- 
shipped up the river over the same route it had just gone. 
When the big collapse of 1S37 came the banks of New Orleans, 
with a circulation of $7,000,000, purported to have a capital 
of -134,000,000, a great majority of them being wrecked in 
the storm. 

Within a few years, howe\"er, New Orleans recovered from 
the shock and strengthened its hold on the planters. 

While the Mississippi Valley was listening at the Memphis 
convention* to the story of its glories to come, and river men 
were calculating on the immense traffic that was assured the 
future, New Orleans was confident of the futin^e. Few of its 
people anticipated any danger of its future, and it was pre- 
dicted not only in American papers but in the British Quarterly 
Review that it must ultimately become, on account of the 
Mississippi, the most important commercial city in America; 
if not in the world. 

That eminent statistical and economical authority, De 
* First great river convention, 1845; fifteen States represented. 



Reorganization 



317 



boats. 



Bow's Review, declared that " No City of the world has ever 
advanced as a mart of commerce with such gigantic and 
rapid strides as New Orleans." It was no idle boast. Be- 
tween 1830 and 1840 no city of the United States kept pace 
with it. When the census was taken it was fourth in popula- 
tion, exceeded only by New York, Philadelphia and Balti- 
more and third in point of commerce of the ports of the world, 
exceeded only by London, Liverpool, and New York, being, 
indeed, but a short distance behind the latter city, and 
ahead of it in the export of domestic products. . . . 

The first boat with a saloon and state-rooms, was applauded Passenger 
by the press as luxurious in the extreme. These cabins were 
steadily improved until they became really the equal of the 
finest ocean steamers on the Atlantic. The passenger busi- 
ness of the steam-boats was very large; indeed they carried 
all the passengers in the Mississippi Valley, and it was one 
of the surest sources of profit. . . . 

The West from 1840, when the railroads first began invad- Riyer 
ing the Mississippi Valley, had become less and less interested 
in the river route to the ocean, and while there was still a 
heavy traffic from Saint Louis to Cincinnati and from Cin- 
cinnati to Pittsburgh, the decrease in the receipt of Western 
produce at New Orleans became marked. 

. . . The flat-boat trade slowly went out during this period. 
It had been a cheap but very unsafe way of getting produce 
to market. It is estimated that not more than three-fourths 
to four-fifths of the flat-boats when started down river to 
New Orleans ever reached that port, the others being snagged 
or lost. A squall on the river would sink a dozen at a time. 
At the same time the flat-boat offered great advantages to 
the farmers living along the smaller streams penetrating into 
the center of Indiana and Ohio. Indeed there was no other 
way of their getting their produce to market, as the low water, 
snags etc., rendered it impossible for the steam-boats to 
penetrate there. A flat-boat was accordingly built after the 
crop was gathered, loaded down with produce, and the 
spring tide waited for to float it out. . . . 



trafHc 



railroads. 



Passing of 
flat-boats. 



318 



Readings in American History 



66. Disposal of the Public Lands, 1796-1820 

(Thomas Donaldson, The PubUc Domain, House Miscellaneous 
Documents, Second Session, 47th Congress, 1882-3, Vol. 19, pp. 
200-5.) 

March 3, 1795, Congress by law provided that "the nett 
proceeds of the sales of lands belonging, or which shall here- 
after belong to the United States, in the Western territory 
thereof," should constitute a portion of the sinking fund of 
the United States for the redemption of the public debt. 

May 18, 1796 Congress passed the act for the sale of the 
lands of the United States in the territory northwest of the 
river of Ohio and above the mouth of the Kentucky River 
(in the present state of Ohio). Tlais act provided for a sur- 
veyor general of the district and for the parceling of the lands 
therein for sale. It gave the substance of the present rect- 
angular system of surveys for the public domain. It pro- 
vided for the sale and the survey of lands io sections of 640 
acres (a mile square) at public sale, under the direction of the 
governor or secretary of the Territory and the surveyor- 
general, and they were to be sold at Cincinnati and Pitts- 
burgh, and the price to be not less than $2. per acre. Two 
months' notice of sale was to be given by advertisement, and 
sale to take place one month thereafter. The remainder of 
the seven ranges of townships surveyed under the act of 
May 20, 1785, were to be sold at public sale at Philadelphia, 
under the direction of the Secretary of the Treasury, in quarter 
townships, eight sections of 640 acres each, taking out the 
four sections in the center, which were reserved. . . . 

The price $2, per acre, was fixed so as to include all costs of 
surveying and disposition, which were to be paid by the pur- 
chasers. . . . 

All lands sold for the benefit of the United States prior to 
the opening of the land offices under the act of May 10, 1800, 
were sold from the pubUc domain in the present State 
of Ohio, and amounted to 1,484,047 acres, and realized 
$1,201,725.68. 



Reorganization 319 

The act of May 10, 1800, introduced the present system Act of 
of disposition of lands through officers called registers, whose ^^^^' 
offices are situated within defined districts. It established 
four land offices within the Northwest Territory, with an 
officer for each called a register, bonded for $10,000; one 
office at Cincinnati, one at Chillicothe, one at Marietta, and 
the other at Steubenville. These were the first district land 
offices established in the United States. 

The surveyor-general was to transmit to the register (as 
now) a copy of plate of tracts to be sold, and another copy to 
the Secretary of the Treasury (now to the Commissioner of 
the General Land Office.) 

Lands west of the Muskingum were to be subdivided into 
half-sections of 320 acres each, and held as such; west of that 
river to be subdivided and sold as usual, in sections of 640 
acres. These lands were to be offered for sale at public 
vendue, after notice at the offices, respectively, under the 
direction of the register and the governor or secretary of the 
Territory. All such sales to close in three weeks, and the 
lands remaining unsold to be disposed of at private-sale; 
none to be sold at less than $2. per acre; payment to be made 
in specie or evidences of the public debt at the time of pur- 
chase, the person or persons to pay, exclusive of fees, $6. for 
every section, and $3. for every half-section, for surveying 
expense, and deposit one-twentieth part of the amount of 
purchase-money, forfeited in forty days if an addition of 
one-fourth part of the amount of the purchase-money was 
not paid; another fourth part to be paid within two years; 
another fourth part to be paid within three years, and the 
remaining fourth part within four years after the date of sale. 
Interest at 6 per cent, per annum from the day of sale to be 
charged on the last three payments as they became due. A 
discount of 8 per cent, per year to be allowed for prepayment 
of any of the last three payments. 

If the first payment was not made, the lands became for- 
feited, and might again be sold, but not for less at private- 
sale than the sum offered at public sale. 



320 



Readings in American History 



National 
vs. State 
sales of 
public 
lands. 



Lands not paid for at the end of one year after the last 
payment became due were to he advertised for thirty days 
and sold durinji court; the surplus, if any, after payment 
of United States and expenses of sale, was to l)e returned 
to original owners. Lands not sold were to rexert to the 
United States and be disposed of as other lands. . . . 

The price was fixed at not less than $2. an acre. (Under 
contract the first sales of lands by the Government were <i6-% 
and 75 cents.) The United States at this time was, and had 
been for ten years, in competition with several States who 
were disposing of western lands — Connecticut selling her 
"Western Reserve" lands at 40 cents an acre in Northeastern 
Ohio; Virginia with her rich lands in Kentucky in the 
market; North Carolina selling in Tennessee; Pennsylvania 
with her charter lands offered through her state office; and 
Georgia with her lands in the territory now part of Alabama 
and Mississippi. Massachusetts before this, had reduced the 
price of her Maine lands to 50 cents an acre to check western 
emigration. There began to be a serious exodus to the west- 
ern country. The roads were filled with moving families, 
and almost entire neighborhoods moved west. Fertile lands, 
at low prices, were abundant, and speculators were numerous. 
Under this credit system men became loaded with large land 
purchases, expecting to make sale of a portion of it at an 
early date to incoming immigrants at an advance, and to hold 
the remainder for themselves. The sales under this system, 
from the opening of the land offices in the territory northwest 
of the river Ohio by the above act to June 30, 1820, were as 
follows: 



GROSS QUANTITY SOLD UNDER THE CREDIT SYSTEM 

LOCATION ACRES AMOUNT 

In Ohio 8,848,152.31 $17,226,186.95 

In Indiana 2,490,736.17 5,137,350.20 

In IlHnois 1,593,247.53 3,227,805.20 

In Missouri 1,249,113.91 3,349,465.70 

In Alabama 3,957,281.00 16,182,147.67 



Reorganization 321 



In Mississippi 1,147,988.10 2,297,662.91 

In Louisiana . 45,277.00 90,554.00 

In Michigan ' 67,362.02 178,400.46 



1820. 



Total . . . 19,399,158.04 $47,689,563.09 

• This was afterwards scaled down by acts of Congress, by re- 
versions and relinquishment, so that the Government parted 
title, under the Credit System to 13,642,536 acres, and re- 
ceived therefor 127,900,379.29. 

The act of May 10, 1800, was the first serious attempt at 
the creation of a general system of disposition of the public 
lands. . . . Petitions, resolutions, legislative enactments, and 
personal applications for relief from the pressure of land pur- 
chases from the Government under the credit system resulted 
in various acts of relief. . . . These acts were all operative 
for the benefit of persons holding not over 640 acres. The Act^of 
Congress of tlje United States, April 24, 1820, provided for 
the sale of half quarter-sections, or 80-acre lots of land, and 
that credit should not be allowed for the purchase-money of 
any lands after July 1, 1820, but that complete payment 
must be made by the purchaser or applicant at the time of 
purchase; and by section 3 of this act, it was provided that 
the public lands offered should be sold at the "minimum" 
price $1.25 per acre at either public or private sale, and pro- 
vided for the entry or purchase by persons at the several 
district land offices of all land which, prior to July 1, had been 
offered at public sale and remained unsold. It further pro- 
vided for the sale of reverted lands, which were forfeited for 
non-fulfillment of purchase terms under the credit system. 
Previous to this time. Congress had, by special acts, directed 
land sales to be made, but by this act it became the duty of 
the President, and has so continued to this day, to issue 
proclamations of sale of public lands through the Commis- 
sioner of the General Land Office. This act was a great in- 
novation. It reduced the price of all public lands which 



322 Fieaduigs in American History 

should be offered to the minimum of SI -25 per acre, and after 
they were offered, (/. e. offered at public sale after due adver- 
tising and notice) such as remained unsold were to be held 
for sale at the district land offices at $1.25 per acre, in un- 
limited quantities of not less than SO acres (half quarter sec- 
tions) at private sale. Thus, in the period 1786 to 1820, the 
price had fallen from $2. to $1.25 per acre cash, and the 
quantity which might be sold was reduced from whole towiM| 
ships and eight sections to sections (640 acres), half sections 
(320 acres), quarter-sections (160 acres), and half quarter- 
sections (80 acres) thus fostering small holding at a low price, 
with deed in fee from the Government. 

The disastrous credit system spread over Ohio, Indiana, 
Illinois, Missouri, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and 
Michigan. The general policy of land legislation by Congress 
was, for the first thirty years, to meet exigencies by temporary 
enactments from time to time. This policy was continued 
down to the period of the passage of the pre-emption act of 
1841.* ... 

67. The Santa Fe Trail, 1831 

Dr. Josiah Gregg made his first journey over tfie Santa Fe trail in 
1831. During tfie following eight years, as a trader, he crossed the 
border from the United States to Mexico eight times. He noted 
the daily occurrences in his "journal." This journal, together with 
various articles prepared by him for the newspapers, was put into 
book form and appeared in two volumes. They contain some of 
the best literature on western history. — (Reprinted by permission 
from Early Western Travels, XIX, 189 passim; XX, 88 passim. 
R. G. Thwaites, editor. The Arthur H. Clark Company, Cleve- 
land, 1908.) 

independ- As Independence is a point of convenient access (the Mis- 

183*1-18.39. souri river being navigable at all times from March till 

November), it has become the general port of embarkation 

for every part of the great western and northern "prairie 

* For the system of surveying public lands see James and Sanford. 
Government in State and Nation (ed. 1912), pp. 280, 281. 



Reorganization 323 

ocean." Besides the Santa Fe caravans, most of the Rocky 
Mountain traders and trappers, as well as emigrants to 
Oregon, take this town in their route. During the season 
of departure, therefore, it is a place of much bustle and active 
business. 

Among the concourse of travellers at this " starting point," 
besides traders and tourists, a number of pale-faced invalids 
are generally to be met with. The Prairies have, in fact, 
become very celebrated for their sanative effects — more 
justly so, no doubt, than the most fashionable watering- 
places of the North. . . . 

The wagons now most in use upon the Prairies are manu- Wagons 
factured in Pittsburg; and are usually drawn by eight mules f^fgin;, 
or the same number of oxen. Of late years, however, I have 
seen much larger vehicles employed, with ten or twelve mules 
harnessed to each, and a cargo of goods of about five thou- 
sand pounds in weight. At an early period, the horse was 
more frequently in use, as mules were not found in great 
abundance; but as soon as the means for procuring these 
animals increased, the horse was gradually and finally dis- 
carded, except occassionally for riding and the chase. 

Oxen having been employed by Major Riley for the bag- Use of 
gage wagons of the escort which was furnished the caravan °''®°' 
of 1829, they were found, to the surprise of the traders, to 
perform almost equal to mules. Since that time, upon an 
average about half of the wagons in these expeditions have 
been drawn by oxen. They possess many advantages, such 
as pulling heavier loads than the same number of mules, 
particularly through muddy or sandy places; but they gen- 
erally fall off in strength as the prairie grass becomes drier 
and shorter, and often arrive at their destination in a most 
shocking plight. In this condition I have seen them sacri- 
ficed at Santa Fe for ten dollars the pair; though in more 
favourable seasons, they sometimes remain strong enough to 
be driven back to the United States the same fall. There- 
fore, although the original cost of a team of mules is much 
greater, the loss ultimately sustained by them is usually 



324 



Reading.^ hi Amencan History 



Entering 

the 

prairie. 



Council 
Grove. 



less, — to say notliing of ihv coint'ort of l)eing able to travel 
faster and more at ease. . . . 

At last all are fairly launched upon the broad prairie — the 
miseries of preparation are over — the thousand anxieties 
occassioned bj^ wearisome consultations and delays are felt 
no more. The charioteer, as he cracks his whip, feels a 
bounding elasticity of soul within him, which he finds it im- 
possible to restrain; — even the mules prick up their ears with 
a peculiarly conceited air, as if in anticipation of that change 
of scene which will presently follow. Harmony and good 
feeling prevail everywhere. The hilarious song, the bon mot 
and the witty repartee, go round in quick succession; and 
before people have had leisure to take cognizance of the fact, 
the lovely village of Independence, with its multitude of as- 
sociations, is already lost to the eye. 

It was on the 15th of May, 1S31, and one of the brightest 
and most lovely of all the days in the calendar, that our little 
party set out from Independence. The general rendez\'ous 
at Council Grove was our immediate destination. It is 
usual for the traders to travel thus far in detached parties, 
and to assemble there for the purpose of entering into some 
kind of organization, for mutual security- and defence during 
the remainder of the journey. 

. . . Early on the 2Gth of May we reached the long looked- 
for rendezvous of Council Gro\e, where we joined the main 
body of the caravan. Lest this imposing title suggest to 
the reader a snug and thriving village, it should be obser\ed, 
that, on the day of our departure from Independence, we 
passed the last human abode upon our route; therefore, 
from the borders of Missouri to those of New Mexico not 
even an Indian settlement greeted our eyes. This point is 
nearly a hundred and fifty miles from Independence, and 
consists of a continuous strip of timber nearly half a mile 
in width, comprising the richest varieties of trees; . . . 

The designation of "Council Grove," after all, is perhaps 
the most appropriate that could be given to this place; for we 
there held a "grand council," at which the respective claims 



tion of the 
party. 



Reorganization 325 

of the different "aspirants to office" were consiileretl, lead- 
ers selected, and a system of government agreed upon, — as 
is the standing custom of these promiscuous caravans. One organiza 
would have supposed that electioneering and "party spirit" 
would hardly have penetrated so far into the wilderness: but 
so it was. Even in our little community we had our " office- 
seekers" and their "political adherents," as earnest and as 
devoted as any of the modern school of politicians in the midst 
of civilization. After a great deal of bickering and wordy 
warfare, however, all the "candidates" found it expedient to 
decline, and a gentleman by the name of Stanley, without 
seeking, or even desiring the " office," was unanimously pro- 
claimed " Captain of the Caravan." The powers of this 
officer were undefined by any "constitutional provision," and 
consequently vague and uncertain: orders being only viewed 
as mere requests, they are often obeyed or neglected at the 
caprice of the subordinates. It is necessary to observe, how- 
ever, that the captain is expected to direct the order of travel 
during the day, and to designate the camping-ground at 
night; with many other functions of a general character, in 
the exercise of which the company find it convenient to 
acquiesce. But the little attention that is paid to his com- 
mands in cases of emergency, I will leave the reader to be- 
come acquainted with, as I did, by observing their mani- 
festations during the progress of the expedition. . . . 

Hut after this comes the principal task of organizing. 
The proprietors are first notified by "proclamation" to fur- 
nish a list of their men and wagons. The latter are generally 
apportioned into four " divisions," particularly when the com- 
pany is large — -and ours consisted of nearly a hundred wagons, 
besides a dozen of dearborns and other small vehicles, and 
two small cannons (a four and six pounder), each mounted 
upon a carriage. To each of these divisions, a "lieutenant," 
was appointed, whose duty it was to inspect every ravine 
and creek on the route, select the best crossings, and super- 
intend what is called in prairie parlance, the "forming" of 
each encampment. 



326 



Readings in American History 



Motley 
dress of 
caravan. 



Orders 
given. 



Bufifalo 
sighted. 



Upon the calling of the roll, we were found to muster an 
efficient force of nearly two hundred men without counting 
invalids or other disabled bodies, who, as a matter of course, 
are exempt from duty. There is nothing so much dreaded 
by inexperienced travellers as the ordeal of guard duty. 
But no matter what the condition or employment of the in- 
dividual may be, no one has the smallest chance of evading 
the "common law of the prairies." . . . 

The wild and motley aspect of the caravan can be but 
imperfectly conceived without an idea of the costumes of 
its various members. The most "fashionable" prairie dress 
is the fustian frock of the city-bred merchant furnished with 
a multitude of pockets capable of accomodating a variety of 
"extra tackling." Then there is the backwoodsman with 
his linsey or leather hunting-shirt — the farmer with his blue 
jean coat — the wagoner with his flannel-sleeve vest — besides 
an assortment of other costumes which go to fill up the pic- 
ture. . . . 

"All's set!" is finally heard from some teamster — "All's 
set," is directly responded from every quarter. "Stretch 
out!" immediately vociferates the captain. Then, the 
"heps!" of drivers — the cracking of whips — the trampling 
of feet — the occasional creek of wheels — the rumbling of 
wagons — form a new scene of exquisite confusion, which I 
shall not attempt further to describe. "Fall in!" is heard 
from head-quarters, and the wagons are forthwith strung 
out upon the long inclined plain, which stretches to the 
heights beyond Council Grove. . . . 

Our route lay through uninterrupted prairie for about 
forty miles — in fact I may say, for five hundred miles, ex- 
cepting the very narrow fringes of timber along the borders 
of the streams. . . . 

Our hopes of game were destined soon to be realized; for 
early on the second day after leaving Cottonwood (a few 
miles beyond the principal Turkey creek), our eyes were 
greeted with the sight of a herd amounting to nearly a hun- 
dred head of buffalo, quietly grazing in the distance before 



Reorganization 327 

us. Half of our company had probably never seen a buffalo 
before (at least in its wild state); and the excitement that 
the first sight of these "prairie beeves" occasions among a 
party of novices, beggars all description. Every horseman 
was off in a scamper: and some of the wagoners, leaving their 
teams to take care of themselves, seized their guns and 
joined the race afoot. Here went one with his rifle or yager 
— there another with his double-barrelled shot-gun — a third 
with his holster-pistols — a Mexican perhaps with his lance — 
another with his bow and arrows — and numbers joined with- 
out any arms whatever, merely for the "pleasures of the 
chase" — all helter-skelter — a regular John Gilpin race, truly 
" neck or naught." The fleetest of the pursuers were soon in 
the midst of the game, which scattered in all directions, like 
a flock of birds upon the descent of a hawk. 

A few "beeves" were killed during the chase; and as soon 
as our camp was pitched, the bustle of kindling fires and pre- 
paring for supper commenced. The new adventurers were 
curious to taste this prairie luxury ; while we all had been so 
long upon salt provisions — now nearly a month — that our 
appetites were in exquisite condition to relish fresh meat. . . . 

But imagine our consternation and dismay, when, upon Appear- 
descending into the valley of the Cimarron, on the morning 1°^?^^, 
of the 19th of June, a band of Indian warriors on horseback 
suddenly appeared before us from behind the ravines — an 
imposing array of death-dealing savages! There was no 
merriment in this! It was a genuine alarm — a tangible 
reality! These warriors, however, as we soon discovered, 
were only the vanguard of a " countless host," who were by 
this time pouring over the opposite ridge, and galloping 
directly towards us. 

The wagons were soon irregularly "formed" upon the hill- 
side: but in accordance with the habitual carelessness of 
caravan traders, a great portion of the men were unprepared 
for the emergency. Scores of guns were "empty," and as 
many more had been wetted by the recent showers, and 
would not "go off." Here was one calling for balls — an- 



o28 Readings in American History 

other for powder — a third for flints. Exchimations, such as, 
"I've broke my ramrod" — "I've spht my caps" — "I've 
rammed down a ball without powder " — " My gun is ' choked ' ; 
give me yours" — were heard from diflFerent quarters; while a 
timorous "greenhorn" would perhaps cry out, "Here, take 
my gun, you can out-shoot me!" The more daring bolted 
off to encounter the enemy at once, while the timid and 
cautious took a stand with presented rifle l)ehind the wagons. 
The Indians who were in advance made a bold attempt to 
press upon us, which came near costing tliem dearly; for 
some of our fiery backwoodsmen more than once had their 
rusty but unerring rifles directed upon the intruders, some of 
whom would inevitably have fallen before their deadly aim, 
had not a few of the more prudent traders interposed. The 
savages made demonstrations no less hostile, rushing, with 
ready sprung bows, upon a portion of our men who had gone 
in search of water; and mischief would, perhaps, have en- 
sued, had not the impetuosity of the warriors been checked 
by the wise men of the nation. 

The Indians were collecting around us, however, in such 
great numbers, that it was deemed expedient to force them 
away, so as to resume our march, or at least to take a more 
advantageous position. Our company was therefore mus- 
tered and drawn up in "line of battle," and, accorripanied 
by the sound of a drum and fife, we marched towards the 
main group of the Indians. The latter seemed far more 
delighted than frightened with this strange parade and 
music, a spectacle they had, no doubt, never witnessed before, 
and perhaps looked upon the whole movement rather as a 
complimentary salute than a hostile array; for there was no 
interpreter through whom any communication could be con- 
veyed to them. But, whatever may have been their impres- 
sions, one thing is certain, — that the principal chief (who was 
dressed in a long red coat of strouding, or coarse cloth) ap- 
peared to have full confidence in the virtues of his calumet; 
which he lighted, and came boldly forward to meet our war- 
like corps, serenely smoking the "pipe of peace." . . . 



Reorganization 



329 



Arrival at 
Santa Fe. 



The return 
from 
Santa Fe. 



The arrival of a caravan at Santa Fe changes the aspect 
of the place at once. Instead of the idleness and stagnation 
which its streets exhibited before, one now sees everywhere 
the bustle, noise and activity of a lively market town. As 
the Mexicans very rarely speak English, the negotiations are 
conducted in Spanish. . . . 

Although a fair variety of dry goods, silks, hardware, Trade 
etc., is to be found in this market, domestic cottons, both 
bleached and brown, constitute the great staple, of which 
nearly equal quantities ought to enter into a "Santa Fe 
assortment." The demand for these goods is such that at 
least one half of our stocks of merchandise is made up of 
them. . . . 

The wagons of the return caravans are generally but 
lightly laden. One to two thousand pounds constitute the 
regular return cargo for a single wagon; for not only are the 
teams unable to haul heavy loads, on account of the decay 
of pasturage at this season, but the approaching winter com- 
pels the traders to travel in greater haste; so that this trip 
is usually made in about forty days. The amount of freight, 
too, from that direction is comparatively small. The remit- 
tances, as has already been mentioned, are chiefly in specie, 
or gold and silver bullion. The gold is mostly dust, from the 
Placer or gold mine near Santa Fe: the silver bullion is all 
from the mines of the South — chiefly from those of Chihuahua. 
To these returns may be added a considerable number of 
mules and asses — some buffalo rugs, furs, and wool,— which 
last barely pays a return freight for the wagons that would 
otherwise be empty. Coarse Mexican blankets, which may 
be obtained in exchange for merchandise, have been sold in 
small quantities to advantage on our border. 

On the 4th of April, 1838, we departed from Santa Fe. 
Our little party was found to consist of twenty-three Ameri- 
cans, with twelve Mexican servants. We had seven wagons, 
one dearborn, and two small field-pieces, besides a large as- 
sortment of small-arms. The ])riiicipal proprietors carried 
between them about $150,000 in specie and bullion, being 



330 Readings- in .inierican History 

for the most part the proceeds of the pre\'ious year's adven- 
ture. . . . 

On the 11th of May we arrived at Independence, after a 
propitious journey of only thirty-eight days. . . . 



CHAPTER XIX 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONALISM, 1815-1830 



68. The Monroe Doctrine 



west coast 
and 

Russia. 



(James D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 
1789-1897, II, 209 passim. December 2, 1823.) 

At the proposal of the Russian Imperial Government, The north 
made through the minister of the Emperor residing here, a 
full power and instructions have been transmitted to the 
minister of the United States at St. Petersburg to arrange 
by amicable negotiation the respective rights and interests of 
the two nations on the northwest coast of this continent. 
A similar proposal had been made by His Imperial Majesty 
to the Government of Great Britain, which has likewise been 
acceded to. The Government of the United States has been 
desirous by this friendly proceeding of manifesting the great 
value which they have invariably attached to the friendship 
of the Emperor and their solicitude to cultivate the best 
understanding with his Government. In the discussions to 
which this interest has given rise and in the arrangements 
by which they may terminate the occasion has been judged 
proper for asserting, as a principle in which the rights and 
interests of the United States are involved, that the American 
continents, by the free and independent condition which 
they have assumed and maintain, are henceforth not to be 
considered as subjects for future colonization by any Euro- 
pean powers. . . . 

It was stated at the commenjcement of the last session that 
a great effort was then making in Spain and Portugal to im- 

331 



Spain and 
Portugal. 



332 



Readings in American Uidory 



No part in 

European 

wars. 



European 
nations 
not to 
meddle in 
American 
affairs. 



No inter- 
position by 
European 
States in 
America. 



prove the condition of the people of those countries, and that 
it appeared to be conducted with extraordinary moderation. 
It need scarcely be remarked that the result has been so far 
very different from what was then anticipated. Of events 
in that quarter of the globe, with which we have so much 
intercourse and from which we derive our origin, we have 
always been anxious and interested spectators. The citizens 
of the United States cherish sentiments the most friendly in 
favor of the liberty and happiness of their fellow-men on 
that side of the Atlantic. In the wars of the European powers 
in matters relating to themselves we have never taken any 
part, nor does it comport with our policy so to do. It is 
only when our rights are invaded or seriously menaced that 
we resent injuries or make preparation for our defense. 
With the movements in this hemisphere we are of necessity 
more immediately connected, and by causes which must be 
obvious to all enlightened and impartial observers. The 
political system of the allied powers is essentially different in 
this respect from that of America. This difference proceeds 
from that which exists in their respective Governments; and 
to the defense of our own, which has been achieved by the 
loss of so much blood and treasure, and matured by the wis- 
dom of their most enlightened citizens, and under which we 
lul^'e enjoyed unexampled felicity, this whole nation is de- 
voted. We owe it, therefore, to candor and to the amicable 
relations existing between the United States and those powers 
to declare that we should consider any attempt on their part 
to extend their system to any portion of this hemisphere as 
dangerous to our peace and safety. With the existing col- 
onies or dependencies of any European power we have not 
interfered and shall not interfere. But with the Govern- 
ments who have declared their independence and maintained 
it, and whose independence we have, on great consideration 
and on just principles, acknowledged, we could not \'\v\\ any 
interpt»sition for the purpose of oppressing tlieni, or controlling 
in any other manner their destjny, by any European power in 
ynv other light than as the manifestation of an unfriendly 



The Developinenf of Nofionallsm 



333 



disposition towards the United States. In tlie war between 
tliose new governments and Spain we deelared our neutrality 
at the time of their reeognition, and to this we have adhered, 
and shall continue to adhere, provided no change shall occur 
which, in the judgment of the competent authorities of this 
Government, shall make a corresponding change on the part 
of the United States indispensable to their security. 

The late events in Spain and Portugal show that Europe 
is still unsettled. Of this important fact no stronger proof 
can be adduced than that the allied powers should have 
thought it proper, on any principle satisfactory to themselves, 
to have interposed by force in the internal concerns of 
Spain. To what extent such interposition may be carried, 
on the same principle, is a question in which all independent 
powers whose governments differ from theirs are interested, 
e\en tliose most remote, and surely none more so than the 
I'nited States. Our policy in regard to Europe, which was 
adopted at an early stage of the wars which have so long 
agitated that quarter of the globe, nevertheless remains the 
same, which is, not to interfere in the internal concerns of United 
any of its powers; to consider the governments "de facto " as not*fnter-'' 
the legitimate governments for us; to cultivate friendly re- fere in in- 
lations with it, and to preserve those relations by a frank, cenls'oT"' 
firm, and manly policy, meeting in all instances the just European 
claims of every power, submitting to injuries from none. 
But in regard to those continents circumstances are emi- 
nently and conspicuously different. It is impossible that the 
allied powers should extend their political system to any 
portion of either continent without endangering our peace 
and happiness; nor can anyone believe that our southern 
brethren, if left to themselves, would adopt it of their own 
accord. It is equally impossible, therefore, that we should 
behold such interposition in any form with indifference. If 
we look to the comparati\e strength and resources of Spain 
and those new Governments, and their distance from each 
other, it must be obvious that she can never subdue them. 
It is still the true policy of the United States to leave the 



in the 
South 



334 Readings in American History 

parties to tliemselves, in the hope that other powers will 
pursue the same course. . . . 

69. The Protective Tariff and the South 

George McDufRe, representative in Congress from South Carolina, 
was, in 1830, chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means. He 
was noted for his knowledge of political economy. In a speech 
before the House, April 29, 1830, he set forth views which proved 
acceptable to his State and the South in general, namely, that the 
producers of the exports to foreign markets pay finally the duty on 
the imports. — (Congressional Debates, VI, part II, 843 passim.) 

Sir, I am well convinced that the people of the United 
States have not realized, even in a partial degree, the nature 
and extent of the oppression under which the people of the 
southern states are laboring. . . . 
Taxation If I shall succeed in showing that the States engaged in 

the production of cotton, tobacco, and rice, are taxed by the 
Federal Government in proportion to the amount of their 
exports, it will follow that those States pay very nearly two- 
thirds of the whole amount of the federal revenue. It will 
also follow that the states engaged in the production of cotton 
and rice alone, with a population of little more than two 
millions, pay more than half of that revenue. I am aware, 
sir, that these propositions are calculated to startle those 
who have not examined the subject attentively. Gentlemen 
will think it scarcely possible that any population in the 
world could have existed, in tolerable comfort, under such a 
weight of taxes. I will proceed, then, to the proof of the 
proposition, that the exports of the planting States indicate 
the proportion of federal taxes paid by these States, taking 
fairly into view the entii-e operation of our fiscal system. 
And I beg that those gentlemen who are in favor of the exist- 
ing policy, will examine my arguments critically, and, if they 
can detect any fallacy in it, that they will expose it to this 
committee. My sincere desire is to arrive at the truth. If I 
am in error, it is my anxious wish that it may be clearly pointed 
out, as very important issues may probably hang upon it. 



TJie Development of Nationalism 335 

If the Southern planters were to export their own pro- Proportion 
duetions in their own ships, and import, in the same way, p^M b'^ 
the merchandise obtained in exchange for it, would any doubt tbe south, 
exist that they actually paid into the treasury an amount of 
taxes proportioned to their exports? Exporting productions 
to the amount of thirty-seven millions of dollars, they would 
pay, assuming the average rate of the duties even at forty 
per cent., fourteen millions eight hundred thousand dollars, 
while the States producing cotton and rice would pay twelve 
millions. Now, as the importing merchant is nothing more 
than the agent of the planter, the true operation of import 
duties will be much more clearly perceived by dispensing 
with this agency. It tends to confuse the enquirer, by keep- 
ing out of view the real parties to the proceeding. The mer- 
chant certainly bears his own share of the burdens of federal 
taxation; but the burdens of the planter are in no degree 
diminished by that fact. I assume, then, that the planter is 
subjected to precisely the same burden, as a planter, that he 
would be if he had no factor or commercial agent, but ex- 
ported his own produce himself, and imported what he ob- 
tained for it abroad. . . . 

There are insuperable objections to the transfer of the Why no 
capital and labor of the southern planter from the produc- ^res^in'^' 
tions of their present staples to any other employment. It tbe South. 
has been suggested that we might enter upon the manufactur- 
ing business. All our habits disqualify us for this sort of 
employment. It would require ten or fifteen years of ruinous 
experiment before we could acquire even a tolerable degree 
of skill, and, even then, we could not rival the manufacturers 
either of Europe or of the northern States of this Union. 
But, even if we could succeed so far as to equal our domestic 
competitors, where should we find a market for our produc- 
tions? It would be absurd to go to Europe, and equally so 
to go to the manufacturing States of our own country. From 
Mexico we are excluded by absurd restrictions, in imitation 
of our own; and, wherever a foreign market might be open, 
we should find ourselves forestalled and excluded by the 



3o6 RcaduKjs in Anicrican Ili.'stury 

manufactures of Great Britain and New England. Is it not 
an insulting mockery, then, to tell us that we ought tamely 
to submit to a system which drives us from our natin-al pur- 
suits, because we have the wretched privilege of embarking 
in the production of manufactures, which we have no skill 
in making, and for which we could find no market after they 
were made? Great Britain alone could supply the whole 
world with manufactures, at little more than half the price 
for which we could afi'ord to make them. 

It must be perfectly obvious, that, even with more op- 
pressive burdens than they have yet borne, the Southern 
planters cannot, to any extent worth consideration, divert 
their capital and labor to other employments, and thereby 
diminish the production of their staples, with a \iew to an 
enhancement of their price. . . . 
KfToft of What, then, let us briefly inquire, is the tendency, and what 

in'the'"" '''*^ been the effect, of the high (hities imposed for the pur- 
South. pose of protecting manufactures and other domestic produc- 

tions? It is too plain to admit of argument: indeed it has 
been candidly admitted by the Chairman of the Committee 
on Manufactures, in former discussions, that domestic pro- 
ductions can only be protected by prohibiting the foreign 
articles that would come in competition with them. 

He openly avowed that he aimed at prohibition, and it 
would have been folly to have aimed at less, if he really meant 
to give protection. No duty can gi\'e any protection to any 
fabric which does not exclude a similar foreign fabric; and 
in the very nature of things, the amount of protection can- 
not exceed the amount of prohibition; though it may, and 
generally does, fall short of it. You cannot create a de- 
mand, for example, for any domestic manufacture, by legisla- 
tion, otherwise than by excluding a similar foreign manufac- 
ture; and as your legislature is calculated to enhance the 
price of the article, you certainly cannot create by It a ilomand 
for a greater amount of the domestic fabric than you exclude 
of the foreign. It may be confidently assumed, therefore, 
that whatever mav be the amount of iron and salt, and 



The Development of Nationalism 337 

manufactures of cotton, wool, iron, and luMiip, which have 
been brought into existence in the United States by the 
system of high protecting duties, at least an equal amount 
of foreign rival productions has been excluded by those du- 
ties. It will not be deemed an extravagant estimate to sup- 
pose that the protecting system has caused to be produced, 
annually, articles of these various kinds, to the amount of 
tweKe millions of dollars, which would not have been pro- 
duced, but for the protection given them. It follows, then, 
as a corollary, that at least an equal amount of these foreign 
productions must have been excluded. But these are the 
very articles we receive from Great Britain, France, and Hol- 
land, in exchange for our agricultural staples. By excluding 
twehe millions of such articles, therefore, we necessarily di- 
minish the foreign demand for our staples, and principally 
cotton, to that amount. There is scarcely any limit to the 
consumption of our cotton in Europe, but that which is im- 
posed by our refusal to take manufactures in exchange for it. 
If, therefore we were permitted to import the twelve millions 
of dollars worth of manufactures that h&xe been excluded by 
our commercial restrictions, or, rather, if they had never been 
excluded by those restrictions, it cannot be reasonably 
doubted that we should now have a demand in Europe for four 
hundred thousand bales of cotton, beyond the existing de- 
mand. Even, therefore, if we grant, what is not the fact, 
that the whole of the domestic demand for cotton has been 
produced by the prohibitory effect of our tariff, it will follow 
that we liave gained a market for one hundred and fifty 
thousand bales, by sacrificing one for four hundred thousand. 
From this estimate, it will be seen that the prohibition of 
foreign imports has resulted in curtailing the entire demand 
for cotton in the markets of the whole world, including our 
own, two hundred and fifty thousand bales. 

In addition then, to the annual burden he bears in paying Loss to the 
the duties upon the imports he is still permitted to bring into ^ccoimt of 
the country, the planter sustains an annual loss of seven tariir. 
million five hundred thousand dollars, being the value of the 



338 



Readings in American History 



Sectional- 
ism. 



Tariff 
favors a 
section of 
country. 



cotton for which lie ha.s lost a market, in consequence of the 
unjust restrictions imposed upon his lawful commerce by the 
suicidal policy of his own (iovernment. . . . 

The great misfortune is, sir — and it gives us the true key 
to the whole system — that, while this Government is an un- 
divided and indivisible unity, the country over which it 
extends is divided into various and — disguise it as we may — 
diametrically adverse interests. Hence, it results, that the 
law which throws a restriction upon the commerce of the 
Southern States, to the great and obvious injury of the 
planter, is obviously calculated, and professedly intended, 
to promote the interest of the Northern manufacturer. If 
the manufacturer can gain ten per cent, by the restriction, it 
is his interest to adhere to it, though it impose a burden of 
forty or fifty per cent, upon the planter. Hence it is that the 
majority of this House are pursuing a policy without regard 
to the interests of the whole Union, which no human being 
would pursue in regard to his own interest. It is worth 
while, sir, to trace the operation of this policy a little more in 
detail. Great Britain, it is alleged, will not, or, which is the 
same thing, does not, in fact, purchase the grain of the north- 
ern, middle and western States, and, consequently, those 
States have nothing wherewith to purchase British manufac- 
tures. This is the complaint. Now% sir, if this be true, the 
wisdom of man could not more effectually exclude British 
manufactures, or give a more complete protection to domestic 
manufactures, in those States. If they have nothing to give 
in exchange for British manufactures, what earthly necessity 
is there to exclude them by law? The domestic manufac- 
turer is absolutely secured against foreign competition by 
the single fact, that the British manufacturer will not take 
anything in exchange for his fabrics, which the people of 
those States have to give. What, then, is the real object of 
the restrictions which the tariff States are so anxious to throw 
about our foreign commerce? It is not sir, be assured, to 
prevent those States from importing British manufactures, 
who have nothing to give in exchange for them. That would 



The Development of Nationalism 



339 



be impotent and gratuitous legislation. The true object — 
disguise it as gentlemen may — is to prevent those States who 
have the means of paying for British manufactures, and who 
have a deep and vital interest in preserving that branch of 
commerce, from importing those manufactures, in order to 
promote the interest of those States who have not the means 
of paying for British manufactures, and who really have, or 
believe they have, a deep and vital interest in destroying that 
branch of commerce. Twist it and turn it as you may, " to 
this complexion it must come at last." Hence it is, that to 
the gross inequality of the revenue system of the United 
States, the majority of Congress have superadded the intol- 
erable burdens of the prohibitory system. Will any gentle- 
man from Massachusetts, or Rhode Island, or Vermont, have 
the hardihood to maintain that the duties imposed on cotton 
and woollen manufactures, varying from forty to sixty per 
cent, are equally a burden upon his constituents as they are 
upon mine? Will any gentleman from Pennsylvania assert 
that the enormous duty upon iron imposes an equal burden 
upon the people of Pennsylvania and upon those of South 
Carolina? On the contrary, do not these gentlemen distinctly 
and openly avow that the duties which throw a grievous and 
oppressive burden upon the people of the Southern States, 
operate as a beneficial and sustaining bounty to the people 
of the northern and eastern States? . . . 

This, sir, disguise it as gentlemen may, is the true question 
involved in the protecting system. The tariff States would 
permit every establishment within their limits to sink into 
utter ruin, before they would levy taxes from their own 
citizens to nourish and sustain them. That would be too 
plain and palpable a proceeding. It would instantly open 
the eyes of the people to the true character of the protecting 
system. It would tear off from the monster the veil which 
conceals its horrible deformity, and break its infatuating 
charm forever. If the protection afforded to the manufac- 
turers by this Government were entirely withdrawn to- 
morrow, I do not believe there is a State Legislature in the 



Inequality 
of tariff in 
different 
States. 



340 



ncddinfi-s- ill Anirrlcan Ilistori/ 



Combina- 
tion of 
those 
favoring 
the tariff. 



Union, that would dare to sul)stitutc an ('((uivalcnt protection 
in till' I'orni of jiecuniarx' bounties drawn troin the people of 
the State, and ai)propriated from the pul»lie treasury. Noth- 
ing that could be possibly sugj^ested, in the way of argument, 
would exhibit the palpable injustice of this system in so 
strong a light as the course pursued, in this respect, by the 
Legislatures of the tariff States. 

Would any man believe, sir, that the Legislature of a 
sovereign State would memorialize Congress to protect the 
manufactures of that State, by imposing restrictions and du- 
ties upon the commerce of other States, when that Legisla- 
ture, having the admitted power to protect those manufac- 
tures, utterly neglects to do it? yet such was the conduct of 
the Legislature of Massachusetts; and such is, substantially, 
the course pursued by the Legislatures of all the tariff 
States. . . . 

Men confederated together on selfish and interested prin- 
ciples, whether in pursuit of the offices or the bounties of 
Government, are ever more active and vigilant than the great 
majority, who act from disinterested and patriotic impulses. 
Have we not witnessed it on this floor, sir? Who ever knew 
the tariflf men to divide on any question affecting their con- 
federated interests? If you propose to reduce any one of 
the duties, no matter how obvious the expediency of the re- 
duction, they will tell you, if not in plain words, at least by 
their conduct, that the duty you propose to reduce, is very 
oppressive and unjust, as in the case of salt; or very absurd 
and suicidal, as in the case of raw wool; but that, if you re- 
duce either of these duties, a proposition will be made to re- 
duce some other, and then some other, until the whole system 
of confederated interests will be shaken to its center. The 
watchword is, stick to-gether, right or wrong, upon e\ery 
question affecting the common cause. Such, sir, is the con- 
cert and vigilance, and such the combinations by which the 
manufacturing party, acting upon the interests of some, and 
the prejudices of others, iiave obtained a decided and perma- 
nent control over public opinion in the tariff States. 



The Development of Nationalism 341 

All the representatives of those States, however decidedly 
opposed in principle to the prohibitory policy, are constrained 
to regard the interests of the manufacturers as that of their 
constituents at large. No man, sir, from a manufacturing 
district, would dare to vote against any measure, however 
unjust and oppressive, if it be only deemed beneficial to the 
manufacturers, and denominated a tariff. . . . 

There is no form of despotism that has ever existed upon The South 
the face of the earth, more monstrous and horrible than that by'^^n"^^ 
of a representative Government acting beyond the sphere of unjust 
its responsibility. Liberty is an empty sound, and represen- 
tation worse than a vain delusion, unless the action of the 
Government be so regulated that responsibility and power 
shall be co-extensive. Now, I would be glad to know, under 
what responsibility the majority of this House act, in imposing 
burden upon the industry of the Southern people, and in wag- 
ing this merciless warfare against their commerce. Are they, 
in the slightest degree, responsible to those upon whom they 
impose these heavy burdens? Have they any feelings of 
common interest or common sympathy to restrain them from 
oppression and tyranny? Does the system of prohibitory 
duties, which falls with such a destructive power upon the 
dearest interests of the southern people, impose any burden, 
or inflict any injury at all, vipon the constituents of that 
majority by which it has been adopted? 

The very reverse of all this is true. The majority which 
imposes these oppressive taxes upon the people of the South, 
so far from being responsible to them, or to those who have 
any common interest or common sympathy with them, in 
relation to the matter, are responsible to the very men who 
have been for the last ten years, making the welkin ring with 
their clamors for the imposition of these very burdens. Yes, 
sir, those who lay the iron hand of unconstitutional and law- 
less taxation upon the people of the southern States, are not 
the representatives of those who pay the taxes, or have any 
participation in it, but the representatives of those who 
receive the bounty, and put it in their pockets. . . . 



CHAPTER XX 

THE NEW DEMOCRACY AND THE INCREASE OF SEC- 
TIONAL FEELING, 1830-1845 



Person- 
ality of 
Andrew 
Jackson. 



70. The Real Andrew Jackson 

During a period of sixty-four years Josiah Quincy kept journals 
in which he gave his impressions of the men and events of his time. 
— (Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past, 352 -passim. Boston, 1901. 
By permission of the pubhshers, D. Appleton & Co.) 

I was fairly startled, a few days ago, at the remark of a 
young friend who is something of a student of American 
History. "Of course," said he, "General Jackson was not 
what you would call a gentleman!" Now, although I had 
only a holiday acquaintance with the General, and although 
a man certainly puts on his best manners when undergoing a 
public reception, the fact was borne in upon me that the 
seventh President was, in essence, a knightly personage, — 
prejudiced, narrow, mistaken upon many points, it might be, 
but vigorously a gentleman in his high sense of honor and in 
the natural straightforward courtesies which are easily to be 
distinguished from the veneer of policy; and I was not pre- 
pared to be favorably impressed with a man who was simply 
intolerable to the Brahmin caste, of my native State. Had 
not the legislature of New Hampshire actually changed the 
name of a town from Adams to Jackson ; thereby performing 
a contemptible act of flattery, which to the excited imagina- 
tion of the period, seemed sufficient to discredit republican 
government forever after? Had not this man driven from 
their places the most faithful officers of government, to satisfy 
a spirit of persecution relentless and bitter beyond precedent? 

342 



The New Democracy 



343 



I did not forget these things when I received Governor 
Lincohi's order to act as special aide-de-camp to the President 
during his visit to Massachusetts; and I felt somewhat out 
of place when I found myself advancing from one side of 
Pawtucket Bridge (on the morning of June 20, 1833) to meet 
a slender, military-looking person who had just left the 
Rhode Island side of that structure. ... If I had suddenly 
received orders to express to General Jackson my detestation 
of his presidential policy, I think I should have been equal 
to the occasion. My business, however, was to deliver an jackson 
address of welcome, and here was Jackson himself, advancing '" Massa- 

1- 1 • A 1111- chusetts. 

m solitary state to hear it. . . . As we rode through divers 
small towns, receiving salutes and cheers at their centers, 
the President talked constantly and expressed himself with 
great freedom about persons. His conversation was inter- 
esting from its sincerity, decision and point. It was easy to 
see that he was not a man to accept a difference of opinion 
with equanimity; but that was clearly because, he being 
honest and earnest. Heaven would not suffer his opinions to 
be other than right. Mr. Van Buren, on the other hand, Martin 
might have posed for a statue of Diplomacy. He had the ^^^ 
softest way of uttering his cautious observations, and evidently 
considered the impression every word would make. . . . 

At Roxbury, which we reached about four o'clock in the .Jackson's 
afternoon, we found a triumphal arch, and Mr. Jonathan '"''^''P^'O'^" 
Dorr to speak for the assembled citizens. The orator was, 
mercifully, very brief; indeed his speech consisted of little 
more than an original couplet: — 

"And may his powerful arm long remain nerved 
Who said: The Union, it must be preserved!" 

" Sir," exclaimed Jackson, in reply, " it shall be preserved as 
long as there is a nerve in this arm!" . . . 

On Monday the President was confined to his room and, 
indeed, to his bed by indisposition. He asked me to read 
the newspapers to him, and took great delight in the narra- 
tives of Jack Downing (the Mark Twain of the period), 



344 



Rcadiurjs in American Hiftiory 



Medical 
science. 



Jackson's 
will-power. 



Jackson as 
a doctor of 
laws. 



wlio purported to accompany the presidential party and to 
chronicle its doings. "The \'ice-President must have 
written that," said Jackson alter some specially happy hit. 
" Depend upon it, Jack Dovyning is only Van Buren in mas- 
querade." If it were permitted to doubt the infallibility of 
the medical faculty, I should have questioned whether phle- 
botomy was the best prescription in the world for the thin 
elderly gentleman upon the bed; but when my valued family 
physician. Dr. \Yarren twice guided the lancet, a layman's 
dissent would have been preposterous. I remember, upon 
another occasion, standing o^'er the bedside of a friend pros- 
trated by a most uncommon disorder and instinctively pro- 
testing when three of the most eminent physicians of Boston 
declared that there was no safety but in a thorough blood- 
letting. I mentioned the disorder in question to a distin- 
guished doctor of the present day, and asked him whether 
bleeding would be resorted to in its treatment. "Never!" 
was the prompt reply. " Not under any circumstances." . . . 
The morning of Wednesday, the 25th, was chilly and over- 
cast, not at all the sort of day for an in\'alid to encounter 
the fatigues of travel and reception. At ten o'clock, never- 
theless, the President appeared, and took his seat in the 
barouche and was greeted with the acclamations which will 
always be forthcoming when democratic so\ereignty is seen 
embodied in flesh and blood. Very little flesh in this case, 
however, and only such trifle of blood as the doctors had 
thought not worth appropriating. But the spirit in Jackson 
was resolute to conquer physical infirmity. His eye seemed 
brighter than ever, and all aglow with the mighty will which 
can compel the body to execute its behests. He was full of 
conversation as we drove to Cambridge, to get that doctorate 
whose bestowal occasioned many qualms to the high-toned 
friends of Harvard. College degrees were then supposed to 
have a meaning which has long ago gone out of them; and 
to many excellent persons it seemed a degrading mummery 
to dub a man Doctor of Laws who was credited with caring 
for no laws whatever which conflicted with his personal will. 



The New Democracy 345 

John Quincy Adams, I remember, was especially disturbed 
at this academic recognition of Jackson, and actually asked 
my father, who was then presitlent of the college, whether 
there was no way of avoiding it. "Why, no," was the reply. 
"As the people have twice decided that this man knows law 
enough to be their ruler, it is not for Harvard College to 
maintain that they are mistaken." . . . 

Fifty years have taught sensible men to estimate college 
training at its true worth. It is now clear that it does not 
furnish the exclusive entrance to paths of the highest honor. 
The career of Abraham Lincoln has made impossible a certain 
academic priggishness which belonged to an earlier period of 
our national existence. Jackson's ignorance of books was 
perhaps exaggerated, and his more useful knowledge of things 
and human relations was not apparent to his political op- 
ponents, to whom the man was but a dangerous bundle of 
chimeras and prejudices; but I do not need the testimony of 
a diary now before me to confirm the statement that his ap- 
pearance before that Cambridge audience instantly produced 
a toleration which cjuickly merged into something like ad- 
miration and respect. The name of Andrew Jackson was, 
indeed, one to frighten naughty children with; but the person 
who went by it wrought a mysterious charm upon old or 
young. . . . 

The exercises in the Chapel were for the most part in Latin. 
My father addressed the President in that language, repeat- 
ing a composition upon which he somewhat prided himself, 
for Dr. Beck, after making two verbal corrections in his 
manuscript, had declared it to be as good Latin as a man 
need write. Then we had some more Latin from young Mr. 
Francis Brown, of the senior class, a gentleman whose name 
has since been associated with so much fine and weighty 
English. There were also a few modest words, presumably 
in the vernacular, though scarcely audible from the recij)ient 
of the doctorate. 

But it has alread\' l)een intimated that lliirr were two 
Jacksoiis who were at that time makinu' the tour of New 



346 Readings in American History 

England. One was the person whom I have endeavored to 
describe; the other may be called the Jackson of comic 
myth, whose adventures were minutely set forth by Mr. 
Jack Downing and his brother humorists. The Harvard 
degree as bestowed upon the latter personage, offered a 
situation which the chroniclers of the grotesque could in no 
wise resist. A hint of Downing was seized upon, expanded 
as it flew from mouth to mouth, until, at last, it has actually 
been met skulking near the back door of history in form 
something like this. General Jackson, upon being ha- 
rangued in Latin, found himself in a position of immense 
perplexity. It was simply decent for him to reply in the 
learned language in which he was addressed; but, alas! the 
Shakespearian modicum of "small Latin" was all that Old 
Hickory possessed, and what he must do was clearly to rise 
to the situation and make the most of it. There were those 
college fellows, chuckling over his supposed humiliation; but 
they were to meet a man who was not to be caught in the 
classical trap they had set for him. Rising to his feet just at 
the proper moment, the new Doctor of Laws astonished the 
assembly with a Latin address, in which Dr. Beck himself was 
unable to discover a single error. A brief quotation from 
this eloquent production will be sufficient to exhibit its char- 
acter: "Caveat emptor; corpus delicti; ex post facto; dies 
irae; e pluribus unum; usque ad nauseam; L^rsa Major; 
sic semper tyrannis; quid pro quo; requiescat in pace." 
Now this foolery was immensely taking in the day of it; and 
mimics were accustomed to throw social assemblies into 
paroxysms of delight by imitating Jackson in the delivery of 
his Latin speech. . . . 

He took leave of me with hearty cordiality. "Come and 
see me at the White House; or, better still, at the Hermitage, 
if I live to return to it." I left him feeling that he had moder- 
ated his views, and would be a wiser President than he had 
been. The astounding measure known as the Removal of 
the Deposits soon dissipated these hopeful fancies. The 
transference of the national money to the "Pet Banks" pro- 



The New Democracy 347 

duced temporary inflation, to be followed by years of utter 
business stagnation. Never again could President Jackson 
have been warmly welcomed to Massachusetts. . . . 

71. Inauguration of Andrew Jackson, 1829 

(Mrs. Samuel Harrison Smith, Diaries and Family Letters, edited 
by Gaillard Hunt, Scribner's Magazine, XL, November, 1906, pp. 
616-622.) 

March 11, Sunday [1829]. 
. . . Thursday morning. I left the rest of this sheet for inaugural 
an account of the inauguration. It was not a thing of detail, scenes, 
of a succession of small incidents. No, it was one grand 
whole, an imposing and majestic spectacle & to a reflective 
mind one of moral sublimity. Thousands & thousands of 
people, without distinction of rank, collected in an immense 
mass round the Capitol, silent, orderly & tranquil, with their 
eyes fixed on the front of that edifice, waiting the appearance 
of the President in the portico. The door from the Rotunda 
opens, preceded by the marshals, surrounded by the Judges 
of the Supreme Court, the old man with his grey locks, that 
crown of glory, advances, bows to the people, who greet him 
with a shout that rends the air, the Cannons, from the heights 
around, from Alexandria & Fort Warburton, proclaim the 
oath he has taken & all the hills reverberate the sound. It 
was grand — it was sublime! An almost breathless silence 
succeeded & the multitude was still — listening to catch the 
sound of his voice, tho' it was so low, as to be heard only by 
those nearest to him. After reading his speech, the oath was 
administered to him by the Chief Justice. The Marshal pre- 
sented the Bible. The President took it from his hands, 
pressed his lips to it, laid it reverently down, then bowed 
again to the people — Yes, to the people in all their majesty. 
And had the spectacle closed here, even Europeans must 
have acknowledged, tiiat a free people, collected in their 
might, silent & tranquil, restrained solely by a moral power, 
without a shadow around of military force, was majesty, 



348 HcdiUiiijx in Jiiicricdii Ili.slorij 

rising to sublimity, & far surpassing the majesty of Kings & 
Princes, surrounded witii armies & glittering in gold. But I 
will not anticipate, but will give you an account of the inau- 
guration in more detail. The whole of the preceding day, 
immense crowds were coming into the city from all parts, 
lodgings could not be obtained, & the newcomers had to go 
to George Town, which soon overflowed & others had to go 
to Alexandria. I was told the Avenue & adjoining streets 
were so crowded on Tuesday afternoon that it was difficult 
to pass. 

A national salute was fired earl^*' in the morning, & ushered 
in the 4th of March. By ten oclock the Avenue was 
crowded with carriages of every description, from the splen- 
did Barronet & coach, down to waggons & carts, filled with 
women & children, some in finery & some in rags, for it was 
the peoples President, & all would see him; the men all 
walked. . . . The terraces, the Balconies, the Porticos seemed 
as we approached already filled. We rode round the whole 
square, taking a view of the animated scene. Then leaving 
the carriage outside of the palisades, we entered the enclosed 
grounds, . . . from the South Terrace we had a view of Penn- 
sylvania & Louisiana Avenues, crowded with people hurrying 
towards the Capitol. It was a most exhilirating scene! . . . 
We stood on the South steps of the terrace; when the ap- 
pointed hour came saw the General & his company advancing 
up the avenue, slow, very slow, so impeded was his march 
by the crowds thronging around him. Even from a distance, 
he could be discerned from those who accompanied him, for 
he only was unco^•ered, (the Ser\ant in presence of his Sover- 
eign, the People). The south side of the Capitol hill was 
literally alive with the multitude, who stood ready to receive 
the hero & the multitude who attended him. " There, there, 
that is he," exclaimed different voices. "Which?" asked 
others. "He with the white head," was the reply. "Ah," 
exclaimed others, " there is the old man & his gray hair, there 
is the old veteran, there is Jackson." At last he enters the 
gate at the foot of the hill & turns to the road that leads 



The Neiv Democracy 349 

round to the front of the Capitol. In a moment every one 
who until then had stood like statues gazing on the seene 
below them, rushed onward, to right, to left, to be ready to 
receive him in the front. . . . The Portico & grand steps 
leading to it, were filled with ladies. Scarlet, purple, blue, 
yellow, white draperies & waving plumes of every kind & 
colour, among the white marble pillars, had a fine effect. In 
the centre of the portico was a table covered with scarlet, be- 
hind it the closed door leading into the rotunda, below the 
Capitol & all around, a mass of living beings, not a ragged 
mob, but well dressed & well behaved respectable & worthy 
citizens. . . . The sun had been obscured through the morn- 
ing by a mist, or haziness. But the concussion in the air, 
produced by the discharge of the cannon, dispersed it & the 
sun shone forth in all his brightness. At the moment the 
General entered the Portico & advanced to the table, the shout 
that rent the air, still resounds in my ears. When the 
speech was over, & the President made his parting bow, the 
barrier that had separated the people from him was broken 
down, & they rushed up the steps all eager to shake hands 
with him. It was with difficulty he made his way through 
the Capitol & down the hill to the gateway that opens on the 
avenue. Here for a moment he was stopped. The living 
mass was impenetrable. After a while a passage was opened 
& he mounted his horse which had been provided for his re- 
turn (for he had walked to the Capitol) then such a cortege 
as followed him ! Country men, farmers, gentlemen, mounted 
& dismounted, boys, women & children, black & white. Car- 
riages, wagons & carts, all pursuing him to the President's 
house, — this I only heard of for our party went out at the 
opposite side of the square & went to Col. Benton's lodgings, 
to visit Mrs. Benton & Mrs. Gilmore. Here was a perfect 
levee, at least a hundred ladies & gentlemen, all happy & re- 
joicing,— wine & cake was handed in profusion. We sat with 
this company & stopped on the summit of the hill until the 
a\enue was comparatively clear, tho' at any other time we 
should have thought it terribly crowded. Streams of people 



350 Readings in American History 

on foot & of carriages of all kinds, still pouring towards the 
Inaugural President's house. . . . We set off to the President's House, 
reception, y^^^ ^^ ,^ nearer approach found an entrance impossible, the 
yard & avenue was compact with living matter. . . . We 
continued promenading here, until near three, returned home 
unable to stand & threw ourselves on the sopha. Some one 
came & informed us the crowd before the President's house, 
was so far lessen'd, that they thought we might enter. This 
time we effected our purpose. But what a scene did we wit- 
ness! The Majesty of the People had disappeared, & a rabble, 
a mob, of boys, negros, women, children, scrambling, fighting, 
romping. What a pity, what a pity! No arrangements had 
been made, no police officers placed on duty & the whole 
house had been inundated by the rabble mob. We came too 
late. The President, after having been literally nearly pressed 
to death & almost suffocated & torn to pieces by the people 
in their eagerness to shake hands with Old Hickory, had re- 
treated through the back way or south front & had escaped 
to his lodgings at Gadsby's. Cut glass & china to the amount 
of several thousand dollars had been broken in the struggle 
to get the refreshments, punch & other articles had been car- 
ried out in tubs & buckets, but had it been in hogsheads it 
would have been insufficient, ice-cream, & cake & lemonade, 
for 20,000 people, for it is said that number were there, tho' 
I think the estimate exaggerated. Ladies fainted, men were 
seen with bloody noses & such a scene of confusion took place 
as is impossible to describe, — those who got in could not get 
out by the door again, but had to scramble out of windows. 
At one time, the President who had retreated & retreated 
until he was pressed against the wall, could only be secured 
by a number of gentlemen forming round him & making a 
kind of barrier of their own bodies, & the pressure was so 
great that Col. Bomford who was one at one time, said he 
was afraid they should have been pushed down, or on the 
President. It was then the windows were thrown open, & 
the torrent found an outlet, which otherwise might have 
proved fatal. 



The New Democracy 351 

This concourse had not been anticipated & therefore not 
provided against. Ladies & gentlemen, only had been ex- 
pected at this Levee, not the people en masse. But it was 
the People's day, & the People's President & the People 
would rule. God grant that one day or other, the People, do 
not put down all rule & rulers. I fear, enlightened Freemen 
as they are, they will be found, as they have been found in 
all ages & countries where they get the Power in their hands, 
that of all tyrants, the}' are the most ferocious, cruel & des- 
potic. The noisy & disorderly rabble in the President's 
House brought to my mind descriptions I had read, of the 
mobs in the Tuilleries & at Versailles. I expect to hear the 
carpets & furniture are ruined; the streets were muddy, & 
these guests all went thither on foot. . . . 

Everybody is in a state of agitation, — gloomy or glad. A 
universal removal in the departments is apprehended, & many 
are quaking & trembling, where all depend on their places. 

The city, so crowded & bustling, by to-morrow will be 
silent & deserted, for people are crowding away as eagerly as 
they crowded here. . . . 

72. Chicago in 1837 

During the thirties there were many accounts of the West written 
by travellers, describing the facilities for trade, fertility of the soil, 
and rapidity of the growth of population. — (H. L. Ellsworth, A Sketch 
of the State of Illinois, also Suggestions to Emigrants. Philadelphia, 
1837.) 

The city of Chicago is the largest place in the state of Growth of 
Illinois, and has grown up almost entirely within the last c^'^^so. 
seven years. Its growth, even for western cities, has been 
unexampled. In Dr. Beck's Gazetteer, published in 1823, 
Chicago is described as a village of 10 or 12 houses, and 60 
or 70 inhabitants. In 1832, it contained five small stores, 
and 250 inhabitants; and now (1837) the population amounts 
to 8000, with 120 stores, besides a number of groceries; of 
the former, twenty sell by wholesale. It has also twelve 



352 



Readings itt American Ilwtory 



steamboat 
communi- 
cation. 



Imports. 



Religious 
organiza- 
tions. 



Manufac- 
tures. 



public houses, three newspapers, near fifty lawyers, and up- 
wards of thirty physicians. 

Chicago is connected by means of the numerous steam- 
boats, ships, brigs, schooners, etc., that navigate the great 
fresh water seas of the north, with all the different trading 
ports on lakes Michigan, Huron, and Erie, and especially 
with Buffalo, to and from which city various lines of regular 
packets are constantly departing and arriving. Some of the 
steamboats are of great power and burthen. The James 
Madison, built last winter at Erie, Pennsylvania, expressly 
for the Chicago, Milwaukee, and Buffalo trade, on her first 
trip in May of the present year, carried ovev 4000 barrels 
freight, and upwards of 900 adult passengers, besides a large 
number of children; and the receipts for the voyage were 
estimated at 18,000 dollars. It is intended to have this vessel 
leave Chicago and Buffalo every 18 days. The James Madi- 
son is 185 feet in length, 31 feet beam, and 45 feet in width 
on deck including the guards, 12 feet depth of hold, 720 tons 
burthen, and propelled by a high-pressure horizontal engine 
of 180 horse power. 

The merchandize imported into Chicago in the year 1836 
amounted in weight to 28,000 tons, and in value to Upwards 
of three millions of dollars, beside a vast number of immigrants 
with their families, pro\isions, etc. There arrived in the 
same year 456 vessels, including 49 steamboats, 10 ships and 
barques; the rest, brigs, schooners, and sloops. During the 
last winter, 127 teams, loaded with merchandize for the coun- 
try, were counted in the street in one day. 

The Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Episcopalians, 
and Roman Catholics, each have houses of worship. There 
are likewise one or more insurance companies, fire companies, 
water-works for the supply of water from the lake, several 
good schools, and a respectable academy. A large ship-yard 
has been commenced near the city. An extensive brewery, 
a steam saw and grist mill, and a large furnace, arc all in 
successful operation. The building of an Academy of Eine 
Arts is likewise contemplated, and measures are about being 



The Neiv Democracy 353 



taken to obtain for it a collection of paintings. The care Natural 

advai 
tages 



which the original surveyors took to give the prairie winds a ^^'^^°" 



full sweep through this city, has distinguished it as the most 
healthful place in the western country, and has made it the 
resort of a large number of people during the sickly season. 
The natural advantages of the place, and the enterprise and 
capital that will concentrate here, v/ith the favourable pros- 
pects for health, must soon make this the emporium of trade 
and business for all the northern country. The completion 
of the canal will give Chicago a water communication with all 
the principal cities in the country: the high prices given for 
produce, and the ready market, will make it the grand resort 
of the Western farmers. 

Chicago is built on level ground, but sufficiently elevated Location, 
above the highest floods to prevent overflow; and on both 
sides of the river, for a mile in width, along the shore of the 
lake, the land is a sand-bank: but back of the city, towards 
the Des Plaines river, is a rich and fertile prairie, and for the 
first three or four miles dry and elevated. The following 
description of the country in the vicinity of this place is from 
the pen of Mr. Schoolcraft: 

"The country around Chicago is the most fertile and 
beautiful that can be imagined. It consists of an intermixture 
of woods and prairies, di\ersified with gentle slopes, some- 
times attaining the elevation of hills, and irrigated with a 
number of clear streams and rivers, which throw their waters 
partly into lake Michigan, and partly into the Mississippi 
river. — As a farming country, it unites the fertile soil of the 
finest lowland prairies, with an elevation which exempts it 
from the influence of stagnant waters, and a summer climate 
of delightful serenity; while its natural meadows present all 
the advantages for raising stock, of the most favoured part 
of the valley of the Mississippi. It is already the seat of 
several flourishing plantations, and only requires the ex- 
tinguishment of the Indian title to the lands, to become one 
of the most attractive fields for the emigrant. To the ordi- 
nary advantages of an agricultural market-town, it must 



354 



Readings in American History 



Fort 
Dearborn. 



Rapid 
growth of 
Chicago. 



hereafter add that of a depot for the inland commerce be- 
tween the northern and southern sections of the union, and 
a great thoroughfare for strangers, merchants, and travellers." 

Along the north branch of the Chicago, and the lake shore, 
are extensive bodies of fine timber. Large quantities of 
white pine exist in the regions towards Green Bay, and about 
Grand river in Michigan, from which lumber in any quanti- 
ties is obtained, and conveyed by shipping to Chicago. 
Yellow poplar boards and plank are brought across the lake 
from the St. Joseph's river. The mail in post-coaches from 
Detroit, arrives here tri-weekly, and departs for Galena, for 
Springfield, Alton, and St. Louis, and for Danville and Vin- 
cennes. 

The United States has a strip of elevated ground between 
the town and lake, about half a mile in width, on which Fort 
Dearborn and the lighthouse are situated, but which is now 
claimed as a pre-emption right, and is now in a course of 
judicial investigation. 

P^ort Dearborn was for a considerable period occupied as 
a military station by the United States, and garrisoned gen- 
erally by about three companies of regular troops; but the 
expulsion of the Indians, and the rapid increase of settle- 
ments at all parts of this region, have rendered its further 
occupancy as a military post unnecessary: in consequence, 
the troops have been recently withdrawn. It consists of a 
square stockade, inclosing barracks, quarters for the officers, 
a magazine, provision store, etc., and is defended by bastions 
at the northern and south-east angles. . . . 

Chicago is, without doubt, the greatest wonder in this 
wonderful country. Four years ago the savage Indian there 
built his little wigwam — the noble stag there saw undismayed 
his own image reflected from the polished mirror of the glassy 
lake — the adventurous settler then cultivated a small por- 
tion of those fertile prairies, and was living far, far away 
from the comforts of civilization. Four years have rolled 
by, and how changed that scene! That Indian is now driven 
far west of the Mississippi; he has left his native hills — his 



The Neiv Democracy 355 

hunting grounds — the grave of his father — and now is build- 
ing his home in the far west, again to be driven away by the 
mighty tide of emigration. That gallant stag no longer 
bounds secure o'er those mighty plains, but startles at the 
rustling of every leaf or sighing of every wind, fearing the 
rifles of the numerous Nimrods who now pursue the daring 
chase. That adventurous settler is now surrounded by 
luxury and refinement; a city with a population of over six 
thousand souls has now arisen; its spires glitter in the morn- 
ing sun; its wharves are crowded by the vessels of trade; 
its streets are alive with the busy hum of commerce. 

The wand of the magician or the spell of a talisman ne'er 
effected changes like these; nay, even Aladdin's lamp, in all 
its glory, never performed greater wonders. But the growth 
of the town, extraordinary as it is, bears no comparison with 
that of its commerce. In 1833, there were but four arrivals 
— or about 700 tons. In 1836, there were four hundred and 
fifty-six arrivals, or about 60,000 tons. Point me if you can 
to any place in this land whose trade has been increased in 
the like proportion. What has produced this great pros- 
perity? I answer, its great natural advantages, and the un- 
tiring enterprise of its citizens. Its situation is unsurpassed 
by any in our land. 

Lake Michigan opens to it the trade of the north and east, Citizens, 
and the Illinois and Michigan canal, when completed, will 
open the trade of the south and south-west. But the great 
share of its prosperity is to be attributed to the enterprize of 
its citizens: most of them are young — many there are upon 
whose temple the golden lock of youth is not darkened; 
many who a short time since bade adieu to the fascinations 
of gay society, and immured themselves in the westei-n wilder- 
ness, determining to acquire both fame and fortune. And 
what has been the result? — While many of their companions 
and former associates are now toiling and struggling in the 
lower vale of life, with scarcely enough of the world's gear 
to drive away the cravings of actual want — the enterprising 
adventurer has amassed a splendid fortune — has contributed 



356 Readings in Amcrirnn Jlisiorii 

to build a noble city, the pride of his adopted state, and has 
truly caused the wilderness to bloom and blossom like the 
rose. Such are always the rewards of ever daring minds. . . . 
Oppor- That those who possess sufficient intelligence, to appreciate 

*n°he^ and understand the advantages of this country, and a spirit 
West. of enterprise that will support them under the privations they 

must necessarily encounter, will be charmed and gratified with 
their western tour, I have no doubt; nor do I question that 
Illinois, in the progress of another year, will rank among her 
citizens, many of the most intelligent and enterprising of our 
sister states. That this country possesses advantages of a 
most important character, and offers many attractions to the 
youthful adventurer — to him who would accjuire both fame 
and fortune, can, I think, easily be shown, and I would 
present a few considerations tending to illustrate the sub- 
ject. 

And I will premise by saying, that there is no truth more 
evident to the reflecting mind, than that in this transatlantic 
world, every one must be the architect of his own fortune- 
no matter what course of life is adopted, be it professional 
or mechanical, the basis upon which every hope of future 
eminence must rest is, diligent, untiring, persevering appli- 
cation. Assuming this fact as granted, I would refer to the 
superiority of the western portion of our continent over the 
eastern, as regards the accjuisition of wealth — professional 
eminence — political distinction, and the opportunity offered 
of exercising influence on societies and the destinies of our 
common country. 

As respects the acquisition of wealth— the great basis of 
all wealth is the agricultural interest, and that country must 
be the richest, which is the most capable of supporting the 
largest agricultural population. Land, rich and fertile soil, 
is the foundation of a nation's glory. It is true, that com- 
merce tends much to enrich a people, and large, nay, im- 
mense fortunes, have been made in the pursuit of trade. 
But who does not know the mutations of trade? — Who is not 
cognizant of the fluctuations of commerce? Who is ignorant 



The Neic Democracy 357 

of the fact, that he who is engaged in commercial transac- 
tions may to-day be master of thousands, and roll in splendour 
and luxury, and to-morrow be a bankrupt, and know not 
where to lay his head? Do you seek for the evidence of this 
fact? Go to any of our large cities and inquire, and you will 
find the sad truth written in indelible characters, so plain 
that he who runs may read. 

Now none of these mutations and fluctuations afflict the 
agricultural or producing class of society — no panics or pres- 
sures occur among them — a stormy sea cannot swallow up 
their earnings, nor a raging fire destroy the toil of years. 
The seed is dropped into the ground, and, " He who tempers 
the Avind to the shorn lamb," sends the genial sunshine and 
refreshing showers, and the ripe and yellow harvest awaits 
the labourer's gathering. 

Now, land in the western world is rich and fertile, and I 
will venture to say, that the soil of one of the prairies is more 
productive than any soil in your much loved state, not even 
excepting the far-famed Lancaster county, where the toil 
and labour of many years has been expended in improving it. 
This rich and fertile soil can be entered at $1.25 per acre, or 
bought "second-hand" for from $2.50 to $3.50 per acre. 
And it has been proved by actual experiment, that an enter- 
prising settler can break and sow 80 acres, and from the 
profits of his crop can realize a sufficient sum to enter and 
pay for his land; thus in one year, by the toil and labor of 
his hand, acquiring a fee-simple title to a fine and improving 
farm. In what portion of the eastern states can this be 
done? " I pause for a reply." Again — wealth will be ac- 
cjuired by the natural increase of the country. 

This whole region (particularly the states of Illinois, Growth 
Michigan, and Wisconsin Territory,) is filling up with great ^q^^^. 
and unexampled rapidity. The increase of the country is west, 
truly wonderful, and one who has not witnessed it can scarcely 
believe it. The growth and prosperity of Chicago may be 
taken as a fair example of the unprecedented increase and 
advancement of the country. Cities and towns spring up in 



358 Readings in American History 

every quarter, and a mighty tide of emigration is rolling far 
and wide its fertilizing influence. 

A small sum of money now judiciously invested, will in- 
crease in a ratio not even dreamed of by an eastern capitalist. 
Speak to them of the advantages of this region, and they 
smile, and tell you, you are exercising the powers of a fertile 
imagination. . . . 
Advan- Among the number of advantages which the West has 

th^^E°^t^'^ over the East, may be enumerated the following: — In the 
East, the professions are monopolized by the older members — 
in the West, the responsible duties of the professions are con- 
fided to the young men. 

2. In the West, greater inducements for the acquisition of 
a fortune being held out by the farming or agricultural in- 
terests, and great privations having necessarily to be en- 
countered, the number of professional men is fewer than at 
the East, and consequently the field is more ample. 

3. In a new country, every thing being to build up and 
construct, greater opportunity is offered for the exercise of 
professional talent. 

4. The tendency of a new country being to develope and 
bring forward youthful talent, exerts a highly favorable in- 
fluence upon boldness, force, and originality of intellect. 

In illustration of the first proposition, we need but appeal 
to the experience of every young professional man. How 
few, how very few, even of our most active and intelligent 
young men can, in our large eastern cities, earn a respectable 
livelihood! One or two of the most eminent and experienced 
monopolize the most important and lucrative portions of 
the business. The community look up to them with confi- 
dence, for they believe their minds are matured by wisdom 
and ripened by experience, and the young men are permitted 
to remain in almost total inactivity. . . . 

Now, in the West the population is mostly young, consist- 
ing chiefly of youthful adventurers, who have left their peace- 
ful homes with the determination to reap the advantages of 
a new country. A young professional man has enlisted in 



The New Democracy 359 

his behalf, not the cold and sordid influence of those whose 
feehngs have been chilled by a contact with a selfish world, 
but the warm and glowing feelings of early youth. He is 
there surrounded not by the aged fathers of the profession — 
those whose brows are silvered o'er by the frosts of time — 
not the experienced soldiers who have conquered o'er and o'er 
again in the fight, and advance to the contest, confident of 
success; but he beholds himself surrounded by his equals — 
his companions and associates, each striving to gain the 
prize of public approbation — each struggling to win the pure 
and spotless laurels which will crown the victor's brow. 

In illustration of the second proposition, we can only add, 
that there can be no doubt that if the acquisition of wealth 
be the object of pursuit, greater inducements are held out 
by the farming and agricultural interest. A professional life 
is at all times a life of toil, and he who aspires to its highest 
honors must remember that they are only to be attained by 
untiring unremitting effort. The pecuniary emoluments are 
small compared with other occupations of life, and he who 
desires professional eminence must not expect to reap the 
same amount of this world's good as he whose soul is engaged 
in the pursuit of trade. 

Now an enterprising emigrant, when he leaves his native 
village, as he turns to take the last lingering look at the home 
of his affections — as he beholds the spire of the village church, 
where so oft he has worshipped the God of his fathers, glit- 
tering in the morning sun, the last wish which animates his 
bosom, is the hope of some not far distant day, returning to 
the scenes of his childhood, where every object brings some 
sweet association, laden with the fruits of his toil. Jn fine, 
it is wealth that he hopes to attain, and it is the prospect of 
reaping golden fruits which enables him manfully to endure 
the privations to which he is subjected. He arrives at the 
land of promise, and examines the prospect of improving his 
fortune which the country affords. He finds that the tiller 
of the soil is the one who reaps the most productive harvest, 
and no matter what profession he may have adopted, — no 



560 



ReadiiKjs in American Ilisfory 



niatter wliat l)rancli of science may have hitherto occupied 
his attention — he roliiuiuishes its pursuit — forgets the obh- 
gations his profession imposes on him, and forsakes his calhng 
to assume the manly and independent, but at the same time 
more profitable employment of the farmer. . . . 



Beginning 
of the 
Baltimore 
and Ohio 
Railroad. 



Interest in 
the rail- 
road. 



73. Beginning of Steam Railroad Construction 

(Niles Weekly Register, August 28, 1830, Vol. 39, p. 12; June 2.5, 
1831, Vol. 40, pp. 291, 292.) 

The following neat account of the present state of this 
road, is copied from the "American" of the 20th. inst. We 
have recently passed over it, and with a still increased satis- 
faction. We passed a considerable distance over the road 
prepared for the rails, beyond EUicott's mills — the scenery 
of which we think cannot be surpassed for its beauty — but 
we almost regretted the necessity of remo\ing the " Tarpeian 
Rock," however convenient its matter for filling up ravines, 
or building bridges — being just exactly located where a vast 
mass of stone was needed. . . . 

It was supposed by some that after public curiosity had 
been satisfied by a ride on the rail road, the interest in rela- 
tion to it would subside, and that the number of visitors 
would decrease. The result of every day's experience shows, 
however, that the supposition was quite erroneous, for the 
traveling between Baltimore and EUicott's mills continues 
to be prosecuted to as great an extent as at any period since 
the opening of the road. There are now in daily use on the 
road si.\ elegant carriages made by Imlay, besides a number 
of others of less costly construction. Visitors, therefore, have 
a full choice of carriages, and may engage any favorite seat 
or seats, or a whole carriage, according to the number of the 
party. The rate of travel is usually about ten miles an hour, 
and frequently, indeed, greater, so that the transition from 
the heat and dust of the city to the pure air of the country 
is effected in a few minutes, and without fatigue. Nor is it 



The New Democracy 361 

to be wondered at tliat those who have once made this truly 
delightful trip should desire to repeat it, for the novelty, 
ease and perfection of the mode of conveyance, the gigantic 
character of the work itself with its granite viaducts, deep 
excavations and high embankments, and the diversified and 
romantic scenery which constantly presents itself, — all com- 
bine to render the exciu'sion one of the most attractive and 
delightful any where to be met with. Strangers from all 
parts of the union are constantly visiting the road, and while 
all freely express the highest gratification, it is often a sub- 
ject of remark that our western fellow citizens regard it with 
that peculiar interest and satisfaction which evince the strong- 
est desire for its success. The double track is completed to 
the west of Vinegar Hill, a distance of nearly seven miles; 
and as the carriages do not always use the same track, the 
traveller is enabled to see with what perfect facility a carriage 
may cross from one track to another. The number of turns 
out, or crossing places, where carriages may thus pass, is 
ten in the distance just mentioned. The granite rails, com- 
posed of long blocks of that solid and imperishable material, 
commences immediately beyond Vinegar Hill, and will ex- Construc- 
tend the remainder of the second track, except at the Still 
House run embankment, up to the mills. The blocks are 
deposited along the greater part of the track, and parties of 
workmen are engaged at different points in the various opera- 
tions of dressing, laying and drilling, and affixing the iron. 
From the character of the contractor who has this part of 
the work in hand, there is no doubt that it will be finished 
within the specified period. The granite rails are to be laid 
at a price little if any exceeding the cost of those of wootl. 
The triple-arched viaduct at EUicott's mills, for the purpose 
of conducting the rail road over the turnpike, is advancing 
with due speed. The arches might be completed in a few 
days, if desired. The structure is of solid granite, with a 
rusticated exterior. In place of the usual parapet walls 
above the arches, an iron railing will be erected which, be- 
sides being more economical, will also form more appropriate 



tion of the 
road. 



362 Readings in American History 

finish to the work. The famous Tarpeian Rock, so generally 
known to the visitors to the mills, is now suffering a gradual 
diminution of its eastern or front side, in order to make a 
passage for the road up the Patapsco. The fragments of 
rock and earth are conveyed by means of a temporary rail- 
way across the turnpike, and serve to fill up the ravine at 
the southern end of the viaduct. 

The visitor who chooses to mount, by the pathway from 
the hotel, to the summit of the rock, or to clamber along the 
rough passage around its base, will find that the second divi- 
sion is completely graduated for a distance of twelve miles. 
Contracts have been made, it will be recollected, for laying 
down rails of granite for the whole extent of this division, and 
the work is now going on. The third division was let out, 
in part, last month, the cost of preparing which for the re- 
ception of the rails will be about seven thousand dollars per 
mile. The remaining part of this division will be let out next 
week, and the road will then be finished or in progress to 
Parr's Spring Ridge, a distance of forty miles. The road will 
surmount the ridge by means of an inclined plane worked by 
steam power. As soon as the requisite examinations can be 
made, the rest of the road to Frederick and the Potomac will 
be placed under contract. 
Transpor- Many persons smiled when, about two years ago, we con- 
raiiroad^ tem plated the arrival of fat oxen from the south branch of 
the Potomac, &c. by way of our railroad — fresh as in their 
own pastures, and fit for immediate use; but we see it stated 
in the Liverpool papers, that, on a certain day, forty-nine 
Irish pigs quitted Liverpool in one carriage, and arrived 
safely at Manchester, after a most noisy journey. The re- 
spectable quadrupeds evidently did not like the new mode of 
travelling, and in passing through the tunnel made an outcry 
which "echoed through the hollow dark abyss," and startled 
all within hearing. Since that time upwards of three hun- 
dred of the tusky herd have made the same journey, being 
probably the first set of pigs that have travelled in a loco- 
motive since the creation of the world. The fare for a pig is 



The New Democracy 363 

eighteen pence, being not quite half the fare of a pig driver. 
The company will begin to carry cattle very shortly, several 
commodious carriages having been constructed for their 
accommodation. . . . 

The second division of this road, extending twelve miles Baltimore 
beyond Ellicott's was, for the first time opened for public inroad 
use on Sunday last. As only one track of rails is yet fully 
laid, passengers can only just now be accommodated when 
the working cars do not occupy the track — but the second line 
of rails will soon be completed. This great work goes on, 
generally, in the very best manner, and it is no longer allowed 
to doubt the triumphant success of the undertaking. Its 
progress, however, is about to be impeded by the controversy 
with the Chesapeake and Ohio canal company as to the right 
of way, at the "Point of Rocks"; at which it is now desired 
to employ many laboring men. 

The work on this division is executed in the most masterly 
manner. Its course is on the bank of the Patapsco to the 
forks of that river, passing through a granite district, rugged 
and rough, but the cost of it has not been large. The present 
termination of the road — 26 miles from the depot in Balti- 
more, is nearly three hundred feet above tide. This rapid 
climbing of the mountains is not perceived — indeed passen- 
gers, unacquainted with the facts, always suppose they are 
descending though when actually rising as much as 20 feet 
in a mile. 

The country is hilly, or rather mountainous, and the scenery 
beautiful — in some parts magnificent. 

An accident (says the Baltimore Gazette of Saturday last) 
occurred on the Baltimore and Ohio rail-road this morning, 
which we mention to prevent the circulation of alarming re- 
ports. The editor was one of seven persons in a car propelled 
by two horses travelling on a wagon with a moving floor — 
constructed by Mr. Stimpson, which conveyed, besides the 
two vehicles, ten persons at the rate of from fifteen to twenty 
miles per hour. 

On the return home between the CarroUton viaduct and 



364 



Readin(/.s in American History 



Use of 
horses on 
railroad. 



Trial of 
locomo- 
tives. 



the depot, a cow crossed the rail way so near the car which 
was in front, that it was impracticable to stop it in time to 
prevent it from running against her — the car was of course 
overset, and the passengers were all thrown out, but none, 
as we believe, seriously injured. The editor received two or 
three bruises, which he feels happy to say are but slight — 
two others were more severel}' hurt, l)ut, as already stated, 
we believe not seriously. 

The accident is not imputable to any want of care on the 
part of Mr. Stimpson, or to any defect in the car — it is such 
an accident as might have happened to any other moving 
power and could not have been foreseen or guarded against. 
The unfortunate cow was killed. 

The experiment was entirely unconnected with any of the 
operations of the company. 

Speaking of Mr. Stimpson's car, the editor of the Gazette 
further says — 

The experiment made on Saturday, with the car moved by 
horses travelling in it on a moving floor, was entirely satisfac- 
tory as to the mode of applying horse power, so as to cause 
a great increase of velocity without increased exertion to the 
horses. 

The ingenious inventor has so constructed his car that the 
horses moving it, l)y walking at the rate of 2,^ miles per hour, 
propel the car at the rate of fifteen miles per hour, evidently 
with as little fatigue as horses experience in ploughing, or 
travelling with a wagon conveying a moderate load. This 
rate of speed appears to us the medium, which may be used 
without injury to the horses. It may be increased on a level, 
or descending rail-way free from short cur^•es — and should 
be reduced in ascending or on very crooked roads. If the use 
of horse power should be continued on our rail roads, such a 
mode of applying it would be important ; indeed indispensable 
for travelling at a greater medium of speed tiian ten miles 
an hour. 

As the day approaches more near for the trial of the loco- 
motive steam engines on the Halitmore and Ohio rail road. 



The New Democracy 3G5 

our citizens are anxiously looking for the arrival of such as 
it is known were constructing for the jjurposc. We have 
already two in the city which will be ready for the amicable 
contest — they will probably both be on the road during the 
present week. 

It will be recollected by our friends at a distance, who de- 
sire to witness the trial, that it will commence on Monday 
next, and continue for three days before any decision can be 
made. We are daily expecting another engine from Phila- 
delphia, which we saw partly constructed about a month ago, 
and which we hope will arrive in time, as well as the others 
of which we have heard. . . . 

Steam Wagon! The locomotive engine, plying on the 
Charleston rail road, exploded on the 17th inst. by which the 
engineer was severely scalded, one negro badly wounded and 
two slightly, one of whom was the fireman, who caused the 
accident, by pressing on the safety valve to prevent the es- 
cape of the steam, when the carriage was stopped at the 
revolving platform ! 

Effect of Steam Coaches. Under this head, a late English influence 
periodical observes :^" The man who started the first steam °''^^''^'" 
carriage was the greatest benefactor to the cause of humanity 
the world ever had. Nothing could so successfully produce 
such complete mitigation, or rather abolition of animal suffer- 
ing, as the substitution of locomotive machinery for the in- 
human, merciless treatment of horses in stage coaches." In 
a political point of view, too, the writer regards the subject 
as one of vast importance. We have, says he, a superabun- 
dant population, with a limited territory; while each horse 
requires a greater quantity of land than would be sufficient 
to support a man! How extensive, then, will be the l)eneficial 
effects of withdrawing two-thirds of the horses, and appropri- 
ating the land required for them, to the raising of cattle, and 
to agricultural purposes. The Liverpool and Manchester 
steam coaches have driven fourteen horse coaches off the 
road already. Each of these coaches employed twelve horses. 



cars. 



366 



Readings in American History 



Steam car- 
riages on 
common 
roads. 



there being three stages, and a change of four horses each 
stage: — the total number of horses employed was therefore 
168. Each horse, it is calculated, consumes on an average 
in pasturage, hay, corn, &c. annually, the produce of one 
acre and a half. The whole number would thus consume the 
produce of 252 acres. Now, suppose "every man had his 
acre" upon which to rear his family, (which some politicians 
have deemed sufficient) the maintainance of 252 families is 
gained to the country by these steam coaches! Taking the 
average number in a family at six, it will be seen, that the 
subsistence of 1512 individuals is thus obtained. . . . 

It appears by the following article which we copy from the 
London Times, that steam carriages on common roads are in 
successful operation in England. There can be no doubt, 
over a well constructed turnpike, that steam instead of horse 
power would be of infinite advantage to the people of this 
country, and we feel confident that some one of our very 
enterprising stage proprietors will make arrangements for 
its early introduction into the U. States. The pioneer in 
such an undertaking would certainly make a fortune, as it 
would be impossible for any other individual to compete 
with him on a well travelled route, with the usual means of 
conveyance by horse power. The immense reduction in fare 
would of itself set all competition at defiance, and the in- 
crease of travel produced as a necessary consequence, would 
more than make up for the great difference in the price be- 
tween old and new rates. 



FROM THE LONDON TIMES 



Some of the advantages to the public from the use of steam 
on the turnpike roads already begin to show themselves. 
Previous to the starting of the steam coach between Gloucester 
and Cheltenham, the fare was 4s. each person — now the public 
are taken by all the coaches at Is. per head. On Tuesday 
morning the steam coach took 33 passengers from Cheltenham 
to Gloucester in 50 minutes. 



The New Democracy 



567 



If the proprietors of the common coaches can now afford 
to run for one shilling instead of four, the former rates, it is 
a pretty commentary upon their consciences, when the public 
were in their power. But it is probable that they are now 
running without profit, and must in a short time retire and 
yield to the superiority of steam. Gloucester is ten miles 
from Cheltenham, and as the steam cars travel it in fifty 
minutes, they go at the rate of twelve miles an hour, which 
we should think ought to be fast enough over a common 
road, to satisfy the most anxious. . . . 



com- 
panies. 



74. The First Express Company and Opposition to 
THE Railroad 

(Josiah Quincy, Figures of the Past, 352 passim. Boston, 1901.) 

The sources from which mighty rivers take their rise have Origin of 
always been interesting to explorers. They find some petty ^■''P''^**^ 
rivulet, which oozes out of the mud, and marvel that its feeble 
current should swell till it bears the commerce of a nation. 
The beginnings of great departments of human enterprise 
have something of the same interest, and I have just found 
an old letter, addressed to me on the 27th of October, 1838, 
which led to results quite overpowering in their magnitude. 
The writer is William F. Harnden. He tells me that he 
has applied for a post of conductor upon the Western Rail- 
road, and solicits my influence, as treasurer of the road, 
"should you think me worthy of the office." Harnden had 
been selling tickets at the Worcester Railroad depot, but 
found this occupation much too sedentary for his active 
nature. He was a man who wanted to be moving. For 
some reason, which I do not recall, Harnden did not get the 
conductorship ; but his application brought me in contact 
with this lithe, intelligent young fellow, who wished to be 
on the go, and I suggested to him a new sort of business, 
which in the hands of a bright man I thought might be 
pushed to success. As director and president of the Provi- 



368 Readings in American History 

dence Railroad, I was compelled to make weekly journeys 
to New York, where the bulk of our stock was held. The 
days of my departure were well known, and I was always 
met at the depot by a bevy of merchants' clerks, who wished 
to intrust packages of business papers, samples of goods, and 
other light matters to my care. The mail establishment was 
at that time utterly insufficient to meet the wants of the 
public. The postage was seventeen cents upon ever}' sepa- 
rate bit of paper, and this was a burdensome tax upon the 
daily checks, drafts, and receipts incident to mercantile 
transactions. I was ready to be of service to my friends, 
though some of them thought my good nature was imposed 
upon when they found that I was obliged to carry a large 
tra\elling-bag to recei\e their contributions. I kept this bag 
constantly in sight on my journey, and, upon arriving in 
New York, delivered it to a man whom the merchants em- 
ployed to meet me and distribute its contents. Now, it 
occurred to me that here was an opportunity for somebody 
to do, for an adequate compensation, just what I was doing 
for nothing. I pointed out to Mr. Harnden that the collec- 
tion and delivery of parcels, as well as their transportation, 
might be undertaken by one responsible person, for whose 
services the merchants would be glad to pay. The suggestion 
fell upon fruitful soil. Harnden asked me for special facili- 
ties upon the Boston and Providence road, which I gladly 
gave him, and with the opening year he commenced regular 
trips (twice a week, I think he made them), bearing in his 
hand a small valise; and that valise contained in germ the 
immense express business, — contained it as the acorn con- 
tains the forest of oaks that may come from it; but many 
generations are required to see the magnificence of the for- 
ests, while the growths of human enterprise expand to their 
wonderful maturity in one short life. Harnden's fate was 
that too common with pioneers and inventors. He built 
up a great business by steady industry, saw all its .splendid 
possibilities, tried to realize them before the time was ripe, 
and died a poor maUj at the age of thirty-three. In attempt- 



Tlie Nov Democracy 3G9 

ing to extend the express business to Europe, he assumed 
risks that were ruinous, and the stalwart ^^ermonter, Alvin 
Adams, took his place as chief in the great industry which 
had arisen under his hands. 

"When you speak of the opposition that our early rail- Early op- 
roads encountered," said a young man to me the other day, f^^roads'° 
"you refer, of course, to the difficulty of inducing people to 
take stock in them. Nobody could have objected to the 
increase of facilities for transportation, provided he was not 
asked to. pay the bills." But it happened that I did mean 
just what I said : and perhaps the most singular phenomenon 
in the history of early railroads was the bitter opposition 
they encountered from leading men, whose convenience and 
pecuniary interests they were directly to promote. The be- 
liever in railroads was not only obliged to do the work and 
pay the bills for the advantage of his short-sighted neighbor, 
but as Shakespeare happily phrases it, "cringe and sue for 
leave to do him good." Can I furnish proof of this incredi- 
ble statement? Yes, I have it before me at this moment, 
and it is worth giving with some detail. 

The old town of Dorchester, which some years ago was 
annexed to Boston, has within its ancient limits nine railroad 
stations, and at those most frequented about fifty trains 
stop daily. The main road, known as the Old Colony, passes 
over a route which I caused to be surveyed at my own ex- 
pense, with the view of providing cheap transportation for 
the towns of Dorchester and Quincy and others to the south 
of them. I need not say that the land made accessible by 
this railroad has become very valuable, and that the business 
and population of the old town of Dorchester cluster about 
the stations. If any tyrant could tear up those tracks and 
prevent them from being relaid, his action would paralyze a 
prosperous community, and might well be called a calamity 
by those most careful in weighing their words. Now, can 
the reader believe that the very word I have italicized was 
chosen so late as 1842 by the inhabitants of the town of 
Dorchester, in regular town-meeting, assembled to express 



370 Readings in American History 

their sense of the injury that would result to them and their 
possessions by laying a railroad track through any portion 
of their territory? No, there can be no mistake about it. 
Here is the report of their meeting, authentic in contempo- 
raneous type, and duly attested by Mr. Thomas J. Tolman, 
town clerk. A leading business man was chosen moderator, 
and a committee of six prominent citizens was appointed to 
oppose the passage of a railroad through the town. The 
resolutions are worth reporting with some fulness. The first 
declares it to be the opinion of the inhabitants of the town 
of Dorchester that a railroad upon either of the lines desig- 
nated by those asking for a charter "will be of incalculable 
evil to the town generally, in addition to the immense sacri- 
fice of private property which will also be involved. A great 
portion of the road will lead through thickly settled and 
populous parts of the town, crossing and running contiguous 
to public highways, and thereby making a permanent ob- 
struction to a free intercourse of our citizens, and creating 
great and enduring danger and hazard to all travel upon the 
common roads." 

The second resolution declares that if, in spite of the pro- 
test of the inhabitants of Dorchester, their town must be 
blighted by a railroad, " it should be located upon the marshes 
and over creeks," and by thus avoiding all human habitations 
and business resorts " a less sacrifice will be made of private 
property and a much less injury inflicted upon the town and 
public generally." The concluding resolution is one of those 
jewels (rather more than five words long) that must suffer 
by any curtailment: — 

"Resolved, That our representatives be instructed to use 
their utmost endeavors to prevent, if possible, 'so great a 
calamity to our town as must be the location of any railroad 
through it; and, if that cannot be prevented, to diminish this 
calamity as far as possible' by confining the location to the 
route herein designated." 

The italics are, of course, mine. They are quite irresisti- 
ble. But when "calamities" threaten, the good man does 



The New Democracy 371 

not do his whole duty by protesting in town-meeting. There 
is the powerful agency of the press, throughout which op- 
pressors may be rebuked and their horrible projects brought 
to naught. Let me quote a few extracts from a newspaper 
article. It was written by a citizen of Dorchester and ap- 
peared shortly after the meeting. The writer has been speak- 
ing of existing facilities for water transportation, which he 
thinks should content certain inhabitants of the town of 
Quincy who are petitioning for a railroad. 

" What better or more durable communication can be had 
than the Neponset River or the wide Atlantic? By using 
these, no thriving village will be destroyed, no enterprising 
mechanics ruined, no beautiful gardens and farms made 
desolate, and no public or private interests most seriously 
affected. Look at the rapid growth of Neponset village, 
through which this contemplated road is to run (the citizens 
of which are as enterprising and active as can be found, 
many of whom have invested their all either in trade, me- 
chanics, manufactures, or real estate), and all — all are to be 
sacrificed under a car ten thousand times worse for the public 
than the car of Juggernaut! Look at the interests, for in- 
stance, of the public house in this place, kept by a most 
estimable citizen, who has ever " 

But I have no heart to copy further. In the wreck of an 
entire community we can spare no tears for the woes of a 
single tavern-keeper. The ruins of that once prosperous 
village of Neponset are, even to this day, visited by reflective 
tourists. I think I mentioned that the Old Colony Company 
has a way of stopping some fifty trains there, in order to 
accommodate moralists, who take a melancholy satisfaction 
in musing among them. . . . 



?.79 



Readings in American History 



Desire for 
communi- 
cation 
with the 

West. 



Early 
canals. 



Few canals 
and good 
roads, 
1812. 



75. Proguess in the Me.\ns of Communication and 
Social Conditions, 1834 

Michel Chevalier was sent to the United States in 1834 by M. 
Thiers, then French Minister of the Interior, for the piu-pose of in- 
specting the public works of this country. For two years he trav- 
elled through the various States, and made known his observations 
to the French Government through a series of letters notable for 
their general accuracy of detail. He discussed also social and i)olit- 
ical conditions. Unlike most of the European travellers who came 
to America about this time, he is singularly free from prejudice in 
his descriptions of the character of Americans and of their social 
and pohtical institutions. — (Michel Chevalier, Society, Manners, and 
Politics in the United States, 83 passim. Translated bv T. C 
Bradford. Boston, 1839.) 

Hardly was the war of independence at an end, when the 
great men whose patriotism and courage had brought it to 
a happy close, filled with ideas of the wealth yet buried in 
the bosom of the then uninhabited West, began to form 
plans for rendering it accessible by canals. . . . Washington 
at that time projected the canal which has since been begun 
according to the plans of Gen. Bernard, and which seeks the 
West by following up the Potomac, but from want of capital 
and experienced engineers, what in our day has become a 
long and fine canal, was then mereh' a series of side-cuts 
around the Little Falls and Great Falls of the Potomac. . . . 
The works undertaken at that time and during the fifteen 
first years of the present century could not be completed, or 
failed in the expected results. One work only was success- 
fully executed, the Middlesex Canal, which extends from 
Boston to the River Merrimac at Chelmsford, a distance 
of 27 miles. 

The war of 1812 found the United States without canals, 
and almost without good roads; their only means of inter- 
course were the sea, their bays, and the ri\ers that flow into 
them. Once blockaded by the English fleets, not only could 
they hold no communication with P^urope and India, but 



Tlic New Democracy 



373 



they could not keep up an intercourse among themselves, 
between State and State, and between city and city, between 
New York and Philadelphia for instance. Their commerce 
was annihilated, and the sources of their capital dried up. 

The lesson was hard but it was not lost. The project of Erie 
a canal between New York and Lake Erie which had already ^^°^'- 
been discussed before the war, was eagerly taken up again 
after the peace. DeWitt Clinton succeeded in inspiring his 
countrymen with his own noble confidence in his country's 
great destiny, and the first stroke of the spade was made on 
the 4th of July, 1817, . . . in spite of the remonstrances of 
the illustrious Madison, who wrote that it would be an act 
of folly on the part of the State of New York to attempt 
with its own resources only, the execution of a work for which 
all the wealth of the Union would be insufficient; notwith- 
standing all opposition, this State which did not then con- 
tain a population of 1,300,000 inhabitants, began a canal 
. . . and in eight years it had completed it. . . . Since that 
time it has continued to add numerous branches, covering 
almost every part of the State as with net-work. 

The results of this work have surpassed all expectations; influence 
it opened an outlet for the fertile districts of the western part cana"^ 
of the State, which had before been cut off from a communi- 
cation with the sea and the rest of the world. The shores 
of Lake Erie and Ontario were at once covered with fine 
farms and flourishing towns. The stillness of the old forest 
was broken by the axe of New York and New England set- 
tlers, to the head of Lake Michigan. The State of Ohio 
which is washed by Lake Erie, and which had hitherto had 
no connection with the sea except by the long southern route 
down the Mississippi, had now a short and easy communica- 
tion with the Atlantic by way of New York. The territory 
of Michigan was peopled, and it now contains 100,000 inhab- 
itants, and will soon take its rank among the States. The 
transportation of the Erie Canal exceeded 400,000 tons in 
1834, and it must nearly reach 500,000 tons in 183.J. . . . New 
York is become the third, if not the second port in the world, 



374 



Readings in American History 



and the most populous city of the western hemisphere. . . • 
The Erie Canal is no longer sufficient for the commerce which 
throngs it. In vain do the lock-masters attend night and 
day to the signal horn of the boatmen, and perform the proc- 
ess of locking with a cjuickness that puts to shame the slow- 
ness of our own. . . . The impatience of commerce with 
whom time is money, is not satisfied with a rate of speed 
about four-fold that which is common on our own canals. 
Merchandise of all sorts, as well as travellers, flows in at 
every point in such quantities, that railroads have been con- 
structed along the borders of the canal, to rival the packet- 
Railroads, boats in the transportation of passengers only. There is 
one from Albany to Schenectady, 15 miles in length, which 
though not well built, cost about 550,000 dollars. A second, 
which will be finished in 1836, runs from Schenectady to 
Utica, and is 78 miles in length.* A third railroad is in 
progress from Rochester to Buffalo by way of Batavia and 
Attica, about 80 miles in length, and it is probable before 
long the line will be completed from one end of the canal to 
the other. . . . 

A still greater undertaking is already in train; a company 
was chartered in 1832; which will begin next spring the con- 
struction of a railroad from New York City to Lake Erie, 
through the southern counties of the State; . . . 

Finally, to make herself more entirely mistress of the 
commerce of the West, and to penetrate her own territory 
more completely, the State of New York is about to com- 
mence a new branch of the Erie Canal (if we may call a 
work of which the entire length will be 120 miles, a branch) 
which will form an immediate connection with the River 
Ohio. . . . 

When there could no longer be a doubt of the speedy com- 
pletion of the Erie Canal, Philadelphia and Baltimore felt 



Branch 
canals. 



''The legislature incorporated the company on the express condition that 
they should transfer only travellers and their baggage. Notwithstanding 
this provision, when the books were opened seven times the amount of 
capital needed was subscribed ; the sum required was $2,000,000 ; the amount 
of subscriptions $14,000,000. 



The New Democracy 



375 



that New York was going to become the capital of the Union. Rivalry 
The spirit of competition aroused in them a spirit of enter- forWest- 
prise. They wished also to have their routes to the West; em trade. 
... It became necessary for them, therefore, to climb the 
loftiest heights, and thence to descend to the level of the 
Ohio with their works. 

. . . From Philadelphia a railroad 81 miles in length, 
extends to the Susquehanna at Columbia. To the Columbia 
railroad, succeeds a canal, 172 miles in length which ascends 
the Susquehanna and the Juniata to the foot of the moun- 
tains at Holidaysburg. Thence the Portage railroad passes 
over the mountain to Johnstown, a distance of 37 miles, by 
means of several inclined planes, constructed on a grand 
scale, with an inclination sometimes exceeding one-tenth, 
which does not, however, deter travellers from going over 
them. From Johnstown a second canal goes to Pittsburg, 
104 miles. This route is subject to the inconvenience of 
three transhipments. . . . 

The Pennsylvania canal, begun in 1826, was finished in 
1834. The State has connected with this work a general 
system of canalization, which embraces all the principal 
rivers, . . . 

Still less than Philadelphia, could Baltimore think of a 
continuous canal to the Ohio. Wishing to avoid the trans- 
shipments which are necessary on the Pennsylvania line, the 
Baltimoreans decided on the construction of a railroad ex- 
tending from their city to Pittsburg or Wheeling, ... It is 
now finished as far as Harper's Ferry on the Potomac, a 
distance of 80 miles, and the company seem to have given 
up the design of carrying it further. . . . 

The old idea, which Washington had cherished, of making chesa- 
the political capital of the Union a great city, was not less 
to the taste of Mr. Adams and his friends. It was, there- 
fore, resolved to undertake the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 
and a company was incorporated for this purpose. . . . 
The execution is on a bold scale, and superior to that of the 
works before mentioned. . . . 



peake and 

Ohio 

Canal. 



376 



Readings in American History 



Travel 
from New 
York to 
Phila- 
delphia. 



Phila- 
delphia to 
Baltimore. 



Balti- 
more to 
Washing- 
ton and 
South. 



Southern 
railroads. 



Parallel to the preceding line which is designed for the 
transportation of bulky articles, is another farther inland 
for the use of travellers and the lighter and more valuable 
merchandise, on which steam is becoming the only motive 
power, both by land and by water; by land on railways, and 
by water in steamboats. You go from Boston to Providence 
by a railroad 42 miles in length, . . . which cost 3.3,000 
dollars a mile. From Providence to New York, passengers 
are carried by the steamboats in from 14 to IS hours; some 
boats have made the passage in 12 hours. . . . 

Between New York and Philadelphia, you go by steam- 
boat to South Amboy, 28 miles, whence a railroad extends 
across the peninsula to Bordentown, and down along the 
Delaware to Camden, opposite Pliiladelphia. In summer a 
steamboat is taken at Bordentown, but in winter the Dela- 
ware is frozen o\'er, and the railway- is then used through the 
whole distance to transport the crowd that is always going 
and coming between the commercial and financial capitals 
of the United States, between the great mart and the exchange 
of the Union, between the North and the South. ... I met 
many persons at Philadelphia, who remembered having been 
two, and sometimes three long days on the road to New York ; 
it is now an affair of seven hours, which will soon be reduced 
to six. . . . 

From Philadelphia to Baltimore, the route is continued by 
steamboat to Newcastle and a railroad from thence to French- 
town, across the peninsula, IGH miles long, w^hence another 
steamboat takes the traveller to Baltimore in 8 or 9 hours 
after starting from Philadelphia. . . . 

From Baltimore you may also go to Washington, by a 
branch of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad, and thence by 
steamboat down the Potomac to a little village, 15 miles 
from Fredericksburg from which a railroad is now in progress 
to Richmond. . . . 

There is, therefore, a great void of 325 miles, between the 
Roanoke and Charleston, the chief city of South Carolina, 
or rather of 275 miles between the Roanoke and Columbia, 



The Xcw Democracy 



377 



the capital of that State. . . . From Charleston, a railroad 
136 miles in length, extends through the uncultivated and 
feverish zone of sand and pine-barrens to the cotton-region; 
it terminates at Hamburg, on the River Savannah, opposite 
Augusta, which is the principal interior cotton-market. . . . 
Its construction is peculiar in this respect, that where its 
level is above that of the surface, recourse has been had to 
piles instead of embankments; the railway, thus perched 
upon stilts from 15 to 25 feet high, certainly leaves something 
to be desired in regard to the safety of travellers, . . . An- 
other singular circumstance about it is, that it was constructed 
almost entirely by slaves. This road was undertaken with 
the purpose of diverting the cotton, which descended the 
river Savannah to the town of the same name, from that 
place to Charleston, and it has fully answered the expecta- 
tions of its projectors. . . . 

The anthracite beds of Pennsylvania have caused the con- 
struction of a much more extensive series of works. At pres- 
ent hardly any other fuel is consumed on the coast for 
domestic and manufacturing purposes than the anthracite, 
which is found only in a small section of Penns;^lvania, lying 
between the Susquehanna and the Delaware. . . . 

. . . The aggregate length of all the works which I ha^'e 
already enumerated, including only those that are finished 
or far advanced, is 3,025 of canal, and 1,825 miles of rail- 
road, made at a cost of above 112 millions. . . . The impulse 
is, therefore, given, the movement goes on with increasing 
speed, the whole country is becoming covered with works in 
e\ery direction. If I were to attempt to enumerate all the 
railroads, of which the routes are under survey, which have 
been or are on the point of being authorized by charters 
from the several legislatures, for which the subscription is 
about to be opened, or has already been filled up, T sliould 
l)e ol)liged to mention all the towns in the Tnion. . . . 

The spectacle of a young people, executing, in the short 
space of fifteen years, a series of works, which the most power- 
ful States of Europe with a population three or four times as 



Commu- 
nication 
with the 
anthracite 
coal fields. 



Extent of 
internal 
improve- 
ments. 



Enterprise 
of Ameri- 
cans. 



378 Readings in American History 

great, would have shrunk from undertaking, is in truth a 
noble sight. . . . 

The millions which the European nations raise so easily 
for war, that is to say, to destroy and slaughter each other, 
would not certainly be wanting to their princes for the execu- 
tion of useful enterprises. . . . 
Railroad In fact there is a perfect mania in this country on the sub- 

tion"^*" J^^^ °^ railroads. . . . Thus the Americans have railroads in 
the water, in the bowels of the earth, and in the air. The 
benefits of the invention are so palpable to their practical 
good sense, that they endeavor to make an application of 
it everywhere and to everything, right or wrong, and when 
they cannot construct a real, profitable railroad across the 
country from river to river, from city to city, or from State 
to State, they get one up, at least, as a plaything, or until 
the}' can accomplish something better, under the form of a 
machine. . . . 

The distance from Boston to New Orleans is 1600 miles. 
It is highly probable, that within a few years this immense 
line will be covered by a series of railroads stretching from 
bay to bay, from river to river, and offering to the ever im- 
patient Americans the service of rapid cars at the points 
where the steamboats leave their passengers. This is not a 
castle in the air, like so many of those grand schemes which 
are projected amidst the fogs of the Seine, the Loire, and the 
Garonne; it is already half completed. . . . 

76. Organization of the National Anti-Slavery 
Society, 1833 

Extracts from the "Declaration of Sentiments" of the Conven- 
tion assembled in Philadelphia to organize a National Anti-Slavery 
Society. 

More than fifty-seven years have elapsed since a band of 
patriots convened in this place, to devise measures for the 
deliverance of this country from a foreign yoke. . . . 

We have met together for the achievement of an enter- 



The New Democracy 379 

prise, without which, that of our fathers is incomplete; and 
which for its magnitude, solemnity, and probable results 
upon the destiny of the world as far transcends theirs as 
moral truth does physical force. 

In purity of motive. In earnestness of zeal, in decision of 
purpose, in intrepidity of action, in steadfastness of faith, in 
sincerity and spirit, we would not be inferior to them. 

Their principles led them to wage war against their op- 
pressors, and to spill human blood like water, in order to be 
free. Ours forbid the doing of evil that good may come, and 
lead us to reject, and to entreat the oppressed to reject, the 
use of all carnal weapons for deliverance from bondage ; rely- 
ing solely upon those which are spiritual, and mighty through 
God to the pulling down of strongholds. 

Their measures were physical resistance — the marshalling 
in arms — the hostile array— the mortal encounter. Ours shall 
be such only as the opposition of moral purity to moral cor- 
ruption — the destruction of error by the potency of truth — 
the overthrow of prejudice by the power of love — and the 
abolition of slavery by the spirit of repentance. 

Their grievances, great as they were, were trifling in com- 
parison with the wrongs and sufferings of those for whom we 
plead. Our fathers were never slaves — never bought and 
sold like cattle — never shut out from the light of knowledge 
and religion — never subjected to the lash of brutal task 
masters. 

But those, for whose emancipation we are striving, — con- 
stituting at the present time at least one-sixth part of our 
countrymen, — are recognized by the laws, and treated by 
their fellow-beings, as marketable commodities — as goods 
and chattels — as brute beasts; are plundered daily of the 
fruits of their toil without redress; really enjoy no constitu- 
tional nor legal protection and more ruthlessly torn asunder 
— the tender babe from the arms of its frantic mother — the 
heart-broken wife from her weeping husband — at the caprice 
or pleasure of irresponsible tyrants. For the crime of having 
a dark complexion they suffer the pangs of hunger, the inflic- 



380 Readings m American History 

tion of stripes, and the ignominy of brutal servitude. They 
are kept in heathenish darkness by laws expressly enacted 
to make their instruction a criminal offence. . . . 

Hence we maintain — that in view of the civil and religious 
pri^■ileges of this nation, the guilt of its oppression is un- 
equalled by any other on the face of the earth; and, there- 
fore, that it is bound to repent instantly, to undo the heavy 
burden, to break every yoke, and to let the oppressed go free. 

We further maintain — that no man has a right to enslave 
or imbrute his brother — to hold or acknowledge him for one 
moment, as a piece of merchandize— to keep back his hire 
by fraud — or to brutalize his mind by denying him the 
means of intellectual, social, and moral improvement. 

The right to enjoy liberty is inalienable. To invade it, is 
to usurp the prerogative of Jehovah. Every man has a 
right to his own body — to the products of his own labor — 
to the protection of law — and to the common advantages of 
society. It is piracy to buy or steal a native African, and 
subject him to servitude. Surely the sin is as great to en- 
slave an American as an African. . . . 

We further belie^■e and affirm — That all persons of coloi", 
who possess the qualifications which are demanded of others, 
ought to be admitted forthwith to the enjoyment of the 
same privileges, and the exercise of the same prerogatives, as 
others — That the paths of preferment, of wealth, and of in- 
telligence, should be opened as widely to them as to persons 
of a white complexion. 

We maintain that no compensation should be given to the 
planters emancipating their slaves — because it would be a 
surrender of the great fundamental principle, that man 
cannot hold property in man — Because Slavery is a crime, 
and therefore it is not an article to be sold — Because the 
holders of slaves are not the just proprietors of what they 
claim; freeing the .slaves is not depriving them of property, 
but restoring it to its right owners, it is not wronging the 
master, but righting the slave — restoring him to himself — 
Because immediate and general emancipation would only 



The New Democracy .381 

destroy nominal, not real proiK'rty: it would not amputate 
a limb or break a bone of the slaves, but by infusing motives 
into their breasts, would make them doubly valuable to the 
masters as free laborers; and, because, if compensation is 
given at all, it should be given to the outraged and guiltless 
slaves, and not to those who have plundered and abused them. 

We regard, as delusive, cruel and dangerous, any scheme 
of expatriation which pretends to aid, either directly or in- 
directly, in the emancipation of the slaves, or to be a sub- 
stitute for the immediate and total abolition of slavery. 

We fully and unanimously recognize the sovereignty of 
each State, to legislate exclusively on the subject of slavery 
which is tolerated within its limits; we concede that Con- 
gress, under the present national compact, has no right to 
interfere with any of the slave States, in relation to this mo- 
mentous subject. 

But we maintain that Congress has a right, and is solemnly 
bound, to suppress the domestic slave trade between the 
several States, and to abolish slavery in those portions of 
our territory which the Constitution has placed under its 
exclusive jurisdiction. 

We also maintain that there are, at the present time, the 
highest obligations resting upon the people of the free 
States, to remove slavery by moral and political action, as 
prescribed in the Constitution of the United States. They 
are now living under a pledge of their tremendous physical 
force to fasten the galling fetters of tyranny upon the limbs 
of millions in the Southern States; they are liable to be called 
at any moment to suppress a general insurrection of the 
slaves; they authorize the slave owner to vote for three- 
fifths of his slaves as property, and thus enable him to per- 
petuate his oppression; they support a standing army at the 
South for its protection and they seize the sla\e who has 
escaped into their territories, and send him back to be tor- 
tured by an enraged master or a brutal driver. This relation 
to slavery is criminal and full of danger: it must be 

BROKEN UP. 



382 Readings in American History 

These are our views and principles — these, our designs and 
measures. . . . 

We shall organize Anti-Slavery Societies, if possible, in 
every city, town, and village in our land. 

We shall send forth Agents to lift up the voice of remon- 
strance, of warning, of entreaty, and of rebuke. 

We shall circulate unsparingly and extensively, anti- 
slavery tracts and periodicals. 

We shall enlist the pulpit and the press in the cause of the 
suffering and the dumb. 

We shall aim at a purification of the churches from all 
participation in the guilt of slavery. 

We shall encourage the labor of freeman rather than that 
of slaves, by giving a preference to their productions: and 

We shall spare no exertions nor means to bring the whole 
nation to speedy repentance. 

Our trust for victory is solely in God. We may be per- 
sonally defeated, but our principles never. Truth, Justice, 
Reason, Humanity, must and will gloriously triumph. . . . 

Done in Philadelphia, this sixth day of December, A. D. 
1833. 



FROM THE CONSTITUTION OF THE AMERICAN ANTI-SLAVERY 

SOCIETY 

Art. II. The object of this Society is the entire abolition 
of slavery in the United States. While it admits that each 
State in which slavery exists, has, by the Constitution of the 
United States, the exclusive right to legislate in regard to its 
abolition in said State, it shall aim to convince all our fellow- 
citizens, by arguments addressed to their understandings 
and consciences, that slaveholding is a heinous crime in the 
sight of God, and that the duty, safety and best interests of 
all concerned, require its immediate abandonment without 
expatriation. The Society will also endeavor, in a consti- 
tutional way, to influence Congress to put an end to the 
' domestic slave trade, and to abolish slavery in all those por- 



The New Democracy 383 

tions of our common country which come under its control, 
especially in the District of Columbia, — and likewise to pre- 
vent the extension of it to any state that may be hereafter 
admitted to the Union. 

Art. III. This Society shall aim to elevate the character 
and condition of the people of color, by encouraging their 
intellectual and moral worth, share and equality with the 
w^hites, of civil and religious privileges; but this Society will 
never in any way, countenance the oppressed in vindicating 
their rights by resorting to physical force. 

Art. IV. Any person who consents to the principles of 
this Constitution, who contributes to the funds of this So- 
ciety and is not a slaveholder, may be a member of this 
Society. . . . 

CONSTITUTION OF THE MASSACHUSETTS ANTI-SLAVERY SOCIETY 

Art. I. This Society shall be called the Massachusetts 
Anti-Slavery Society, and shall be auxiliary to the American 
Anti-Slavery Society. 

Art. II. The objects of the Society shall be, to endeavor, 
by all means sanctioned by law, humanity and religion, to 
effect the abolition of slavery in the United States; to im- 
prove the character and condition of the free people of color, 
to inform and correct public opinion in relation to their 
situation and rights, and obtain for them equal civil and 
political rights and privileges with the whites. 

77. The First Telegraph Line, 1844 

Samuel F. B. Morse, at the time of his graduation from Yale, 
1810, was ambitious to become a painter. For a number of years he 
devoted himself to the painting of portraits and made rapid progress. 
His fame was estabhshed as the inventor of the electric telegraph. 
Although other men disputed his right to the invention, his claims 
were finally established. While returning from Europe, 1832, he 
devised the dash and dot alphabet, but his model was not completed 
until 1835. In December, 1837, having a few months earlier secured 
a patent, he applied to Congress for assistance in building a telegraph 



384 



Ueadinys in American History 



line, but the session closed without making the necessary grant. 
He then went to Europe with the hope of interesting foreign govern- 
ments, but in this was likewise unsuccessful. Upon returning to 
the United States he was in debt, and it is stated that during the next 
four years, because of his poverty, he was known to have gone as 
long as twenty-four hours at a time without food. — (Natlian 
Sargent, PublicMen and Events, pp. 192-194. Philadelphia, 1875.) 



Exhibition 

of (llP 

telegraph. 



Regarded 
as imprac- 
ticable. 



On the opening of the third session of the Twenty-seventh 
Congress, Mr. Morse, of telegraphic celebrity, obtained leave 
to set up his telegraph in the lower rooms of the Capitol, in 
order to exhibit to Senators and members its operation, he 
l)eing an applicant for an appropriation of thirty thousand 
dollars with which to establish an experimental line from 
Washington to Baltimore. 

No one dreamed then that continents, separated by oceans, 
could be connected by telegraphic wires, and messages trans- 
mitted, almost instantaneously, between the most distant 
parts of the earth, crossing ri\ers, bays, lakes and oceans. 

The rooms in which were the termini of this temporary 
illustrative telegraph were almost constantly filled by Sena- 
tors, members of the House, and others, and the two operators 
were often kept busy for hours transmitting messages to and 
from those in the different rooms, to the great wonder of 
those who sent and those who received them. They could 
hardly credit their senses. Members in the different rooms 
would carry on for some time a jocose conversation full of 
wit, point, and repartee, to the great amusement of others 
in the rooms, apparently with as much ease as if they stood 
face to face. Still, it was no easy matter to convince many 
that this telegraph could be made practically useful to the 
world. It was considered by some as a sort of Redheffer's 
perpetual-motion machine — might do for short distance, but 
impracticable for long ones. Howe\er, thei-e were others 
who, if they could not see all of the great results to be wrought 
by this invention, or discovery — and w ho could at that time? 
— were satisfied that it was destined to effect great results. 

Mr. Morse asked for an appropriation of thirty thousand 



The Neiv Democracy 385 

dollars; and a bill was introduced authorizing the Secretary Appropria- 
of the Treasury to make an experiment, by erecting a line \^°" ^^i^^d 
of telegraph — of a single wire— from Washington to Balti- 
more, and making an appropriation for that purpose. 

The bill came up and was considered in committee of the 
whole on the 21st of February. It met with most decided 
opposition, its opponents, not numerous, endeavoring to kill 
it by ridicule. Mr. Cave Johnson, who, a little more than 
a year after this, was Postmaster-General, moved that one- 
half of the appropriation be expended in making experiments 
in mesmerism, which was sustained by twenty votes. An- 
other member mo^■ed that the Secretary use the appropria- 
tion in trying an experiment to construct a railroad to the 
moon. Other ridiculous propositions were made, some of 
them creating much merriment and pleasant badinage among 
members. Prominent among the opponents of the bill were 
Ca\'e Johnson and George W. Jones, of Tennessee; Edmund 
Burke, of New Hampshire, Commissioner of Patents under 
Mr. Polk; George S. Houston and William W. Payne, of 
Alabama; William Pettit and Andrew Kennedy, of Indiana; 
and Samuel Gordon, of New York. Mr. Pettit, of Indiana, 
afterwards a Democratic Senator, opposed it, and looked 
upon all magnetic telegraphs as miserable chimeras, fit for 
nothing. Nobody who did not understand the Pottawat- 
tomie or some other outlandish jargon could know what the 
telegraph reported. 

Governor Wallace, of Indiana, who voted for the appro- 
priation, was superseded by William J. Brown, one of the 
leaders of the Democratic party, who made the vote of 
Governor Wallace the great theme of his electioneering 
canvas. 

But, finally, the opposition gave up, and the bill was re- Bill 
ported to the House, and passed by a small majority. ^^^^® 

While the bill was undergoing the ordeal of ridicule in the 
committee of the whole, Mr. Morse stood leaning on the bar 
of the House, or railing, in a state of intense excitement and 
anxiety. Seeing him thus, I went to him, remarking that he 



386 Readings in American History 

appeared to be much excited. He turned and said, "I 
have an awful headache," putting his hand to his forehead. 
I said, "You are anxious." "I have reason to be," he re- 
plied; "and if you knew how important this is to me, you 
would not wonder. I have spent seven years in perfecting 
this invention, and all that I had; if it succeeds, I am a made 
man; if it fails, I am ruined. I have a large family, and not 
money enough to pay my board bill when I leave the city." 
I assured him he need not feel so anxious as the bill would 
pass. "Are you sure of it?" he asked. "Yes, perfectly; 
all this ridicule goes for nothing." He was soon relieved by 
the vote, first in the committee, and then in the House. I 
seldom met him in after years that he did not recall the con- 
versation between us, and remark how much relief my as- 
surance gave him. The ridicule cast upon his great inven- 
tion, or discovery, whichever it may be, mortified him, and 
led him to fear the defeat of the bill. By its passage he was, 
as he said, "A made man": one of the celebrities of the 
world, whose fame can never die so long as man can flash 
words over continents and under oceans with a speed that 
utterly annihilates time and space. The name of Morse and 
the electro-magnetic telegraph are forever inseparable. . . . 
Practical Mr. Morse had completed his telegraph line from Wash- 

teiegrauh "igton to Baltimore just previous to the sitting of the Demo- 
cratic convention, and was ready to report its proceedings 
every fifteen minutes. The terminus of the line in Wash- 
ington was in a room adjoining the Supreme Court room, 
under the Senate-Chamber, now the Supreme Court room. 
Here he received and communicated dispatches during the 
sitting of the convention, and read them to the large crowd 
assembled around the window, manifesting the most intense 
interest in the proceedings at Baltimore, as they were from 
time to time received and read aloud. 

It was a novelty. Every few minutes it would be reported 
that Mr. So-and-so had made such a motion, and in a minute 
or two, "the motion has failed," or, "has carried," as the 
case might be. Again, " A ballot is being taken," etc. " Mr. 



The New Democracy 387 

Polk has been proposed, and a vote is being taken; such a 
State has voted for Mr. Polk, — such and such and such States 
have voted for him; he has received two-thirds, and is 
nominated." 

This talking with Baltimore was something so novel, so 
strange, so extraordinary, and upon a matter of such intense 
interest, that we could hardly realize the fact. It seemed 
like enchantment, or a delusion, or a dream. 

When the telegraph announced that a vote was being 
taken for James K. Polk for President, and he had been 
nominated, the Democrats received the intelligence in silence, 
not knowing what to make of it. . . . 



CHAPTER XXI 

TERRITORIAL EXPANSION AND GROWTH OF THE 
SLAVERY ISSUE 



Independ- 
ence the 
starting- 
point. 



78. The Oregon Trail, 1848 

Jessy Quinn Thornton set out from Quincy, 111., April, 1846, for 
Oregon, accompanied by his wife. They migrated with the hope 
that the change of climate would restore them to health. He became 
judge of the Oregon Supreme Court. — (Jessy Quinn Thornton, Oregon 
and California Trail in 1848, Vol. I, 13 passim.) 

In due time we arrived at Independence, Missouri, the 
place of rendezvous. . . . 

The town of Independence was at this time a great Babel 
upon the border of the wilderness. Here might be seen the 
African slave with his shining black face, driving his .six- 
horse team of blood-red bays, and swaying from side to side 
as he sat upon the saddle and listened to the incessant tin- 
kling of the bells. In one street, just driving out of town, was 
an emigrant, who having completed all his preparations, was 
about entering upon the great prairie wilderness; whistling 
as though his mouth had been made for nothing else. The 
shrill notes seemed to come up from the bottom of a throat 
without "a stop." 

Santa Fe wagons were coming in, having attached to them 
eight or ten mules, some driven by Spaniards, some by 
Americans resembling Indians, some by negroes, and others 
by persons of all possible crosses between these various races; 
each showing in his dress as well as in his face some distinct- 
ive characteristic of his blood and race. The traders had 
been out to Santa Fe, and having sold their goods in ex- 

:iS8 



Territorial Expansion 389 

change for gold dust, dollars, and droves of mules, were then 
daily coming in; the dilapidated and muddy condition of 
their wagons, and wagon-sheets, as the sore backs of their 
mules, all giving evidence of the length and toil of the jour- 
ney they had performed and were now about to terminate. 

Merchants were doing all in their power to eflFect the sale 
of supplies to emigrants. Some of the emigrants were hurry- 
ing to and fro, looking careworn, and many of them sad, as 
though the cloud had not yet passed away, that had come 
over their spirits, as they tore themselves from friends and 
scenes around which had clustered the memories of the heart. 
One was seen just starting, calling out to his oxen, and 
cracking his whip as though the world were at his control. 
Although some four or five children in the wagon were cry- 
ing in all possible keys, he drove on, looking as cheerful and 
happy, as though he was perfectly sure that he was going to 
a country where the valleys flowed with milk and honey. 
Behind the wagon, with her nose almost over the end board, 
an old mare slowly and patiently stepped along as though 
she knew that she was carrying "mother" and "the baby"; 
and therefore must not stumble on any account. 

May 12. — During the day we passed many immense Beginning 
wagons carrying from 60 to 70 cwt. of goods for the Santa *'^® 
Fe market. 

May 13. — We set off this morning for the Indian country. 
Before noon we passed the last fixed abode of a white man — 
the last cabin — and immediately afterward entered the ter- 
ritory of the Shawnees. We continued to meet wagons re- 
turning from Santa Fe. We also met thirty Indians. In 
the afternoon we overtook Ex-Governor Boggs and some 
California emigrants. 

We encamped at night in an open prairie, without wood 
for fires; and with ill-tasting water rendered impure by de- 
cayed vegetable matter. 

May 15. — About the middle of the afternoon, Ex-Governor Numbers 
Boggs and myself, with our wagons, teams, and those of ^^^"*^' 
some others, came up with the main body of the California 



390 Readings in American History 

emigrants, consisting of 63 wagons, under Col. W. H. Russell, 
who were still considered as being at the rendezvous, having 
moved forward a little, but having halted again for emigrants 
whom they expected to join them. We were immediately 
invited to attach ourselves to their party, and to remain with 
them until those of us who proposed to go to Oregon, should 
find ourselves in sufficient numbers, by new accessions, to 
form a company of our ov/n. 

In the evening, an inquiry was instituted for the purpose 
of ascertaining the sufficiency of the wagons, teams and pro- 
visions; the number and sort of arms; the amount of powder 
and lead; the number of persons capable of bearing arms, 
and the number of all other persons of either sex. The fol- 
lowing are believed to be the numbers: wagons, 72; men, 
130; women, 65; children, 125; breadstuff, 69,420 lbs.; 
bacon, 40,200 lbs.; powder, 1,100 lbs.; lead, 2,672 lbs.; guns, 
mostly rifles, 155; pistols, 104; cattle and horses, estimated 
at 710. 

The wagons were generally new, strong, and well painted. 
They were all covered with strong linen or cotton drilling; 
some of them being painted, so as more effectuall}' to repel 
the rain. Some of the wagons had "California" painted on 
the cover; some of them displayed "Oregon"; some added 
in large letters, "The whole or none"; some "54° 40'". . . . 
All were obliging and kind; and there was even an extraor- 
dinary absence of selfishness; suffering, want, and privations, 
mental anxiety, hardship, and exhausting labor, had not yet 
blunted the moral perceptions of any, excited cupidity, and 
selfishness, or dried up the fountains of the heart's best and 
purest aft'ections. 
Motives May 16. — We were now en route, some for Oregon and 

tion^^'^^" some for California. Many who had large families of chil- 
dren were removing to Oregon with the hope of finding a 
more salubrious climate than the one they had left, and of 
obtaining from the government of the United States a grant 
of land which would enable them to maintain their families 
in an honorable independence. Some had become involved 



Territorial Expansion 391 

in pecuniary embarrassments, and having sold their property 
to pay their creditors, could not consent to remain where 
they must necessarily see their former pleasant homes in the 
hands of others; and they had resolved upon making an 
effort to retrieve their fallen fortunes in Oregon, where they 
flattered themselves that if they accomplished no more, they 
would at least avoid a position in which the wealth and splen- 
did equipages of others would upbraid them for their pov- 
erty. Others had, during a long time, their yearly acquisi- 
tions taken from them by eager creditors, who had thus 
crippled their resources, depressed their energies, and de- 
prived them of all hope either of paying their debts or of 
being able to educate their children. They hoped that by 
emigrating to Oregon they would for a few years escape 
harassing observation, and thus be able to accumulate the 
means of meeting all their engagements. Many were in 
pursuit of health. Some were actuated by a mere love of 
change; many more by a spirit of enterprise and adventure; 
and a few, I believe, knew not exactly why they were thus 
upon the road. The motives which thus brought this mul- 
titude together were, in fact, almost as various as their fea- 
tures. They agreed in the one general object — that of bet- 
tering their condition; but the particular means by which 
each proposed to attain this end, were as various as can well 
be imagined. These remarks apply with equal force to the 
California emigrants, with the exception that some of them 
expected to obtain grants of land in that country from the 
government of Mexico. 

Nor were the people less different in their general appear- 
ance, manners, education and principles. The majority 
were plain, honest, substantial, intelligent, enterprising and 
virtuous. 

May 17. — Mr. Webb, editor of the " Independence Exposi- Beginning 
tion," and a Mr. Hay, arrived in camp a little after dark, ^^^-^ 
having come direct from the settlements to communicate to War. 
us the last intelligence we should receive before arriving at 
the Pacific. The letters and papers brought by them, gave 



392 



Readings in American History 



Difflciilty 
In crossing 
streams. 



Amuse- 
ments of 
travellers. 



Dissen- 
sion. 



A storm. 



US positive information of the conimenceinent of hostilities, 
and of the perilous position of the noble and gallant Taylor. 
But I did not doubt that the resources of his great mind and 
his unsurpassed military skill, would enable him to extricate 
himself in a manner that would be honorable to the American 
arms, and add additional lustre to a name already greatly 
endeared to his admiring countrymen; . . . 

May 21. — We continued our journey seven miles to a 
creek, the banks of which were so steep as to make it neces- 
sary to let down the wagons by means of ropes into the 
stream, when teams were doubled for the purpose of drawing 
them up the opposite bank. The process was difficult and 
tedious, but was at length accomplished. . . . 

Mr. Alfonso Boone, a grand.son of the celebrated Daniel 
Boone, and a brother-in-law of Ex-Governor Boggs, came 
up with us in the afternoon. After the first ordinary camp 
duties were over, the men amused themselves by target- 
shooting with the rifle. At night the cattle were driven into 
the kraal, to prevent the Indians from stealing them. 

May 22. — This morning thirteen wagons, near half of 
which belonged to Mr. Gordon, of Jackson County, Mo., 
separated from our party, assigning as a reason for so doing, 
that the company was too large to move with the necessary 
celerity. A restlessness of disposition and di.ssatisfaction, 
produced by trifling causes, and a wish to rule rather than 
to be ruled, to lead rather than be led, are the sources of 
frequent divisions and subdivisions of companies. . . . 

Under this date, I find the following, among other remarks, 
in Mrs. Thornton's journal: "I saw many Indians, one of 
whom oft'ered all his money to Mr. Thornton for his squaw's 
parasol. Squaw did not think proper to part with it." 

May 25. — We traveled until about the middle of the after- 
noon; but scarcely had we got our tents spread, when a 
tremendous storm of wind and rain came up, accompanied 
by vivid lightning and almost deafening thunder. The rain 
poured in torrents down the hill sides and tumbled tumultu- 
ouslv into the streams below. . . . 



Territorial Expansion 



393 



May 26. — In the evening, Ex-Governor Boggs, Mr. J. F. Govem- 
Reed, Mr. George Dormer, and some others, including my- ^^j."*"*^ 
self, convened in a tent, according to an appointment of a 
general meeting of the emigrants, with the design of preparing 
a system of laws for the purpose of preserving order, etc. 
We proposed a few laws, without, however, believing that 
they would possess much authority. Provision was made 
for the appointment of a court of arbitrators, to hear and 
decide disputes, and to try offenders against the peace and 
good order of the company. 

May 27. — A meeting was held about nine o'clock to hear 
and decide upon the report of the committee. A man named 

E made use of violent language against our leader, Col. 

Russell, and the sub-captain. E had been disappointed 

in not being elected to the latter post. He finally moved the 
appointment of a committee to try the officers when charged 
with neglect of duty, or improper treatment of any of the 
party. The motion prevailed, whereupon the officers re- 
signed. A few moments' reflection showed the evil conse- 
quences of permitting E to control in any degree the com- 
pany. The resolution was rescinded by a large majority, 
and the former officers re-elected by acclamation. . . , 

May 28. — The river having fallen more than fifteen inches Crossing 
during the night, the whole party after breakfast were desired "^^'"" 
to unite in the construction of large canoes, to be used when 
lashed together, as a sort of raft, upon which to take our 
wagons over the stream. The call was not generally re- 
sponded to; nevertheless a number of persons went. Two 
large cotton-wood trees about four feet in diameter, were 
felled, from which two canoes twenty-five feet in length were 
commenced. It was intended to unite them, by means of 
cross timbers, so as to admit the wheels of the wagon into 
them; and then to attach lines to both ends of this "Blue 
River Rover," as it was called, and by pulling backward and 
forward, convex' over all our wagons and goods. 

May 31. — The wagons having been all carried across, the 
animals were driven in, and caused to swim the stream. 



Iiy Pawnco 
Indians. 



394 Readings in American History 

Many of the men came up shivering violently. The per- 
petual vexations and continued hard labor of the day had 
kept the nerves of most of the men in a state of great irrita- 
bility. Two drivers fought near the banks of the river, with 
fists at first, but with knives at last. They were separated 
without serious injury to either. . . . 

June 2. — Twenty wagons, including mine — all for Oregon 
— separated from the California wagons, and proceeded on 
in advance. . . . 

June 3. — We set off at 7 o'clock, and fears being entertained 
that the California company was making an effort to come 
up to us, and pass, we drove rapidly during the day, over a 
prairie which was generally level, and in some places muddy. 
We traveled twenty miles. 
Alarmed June 7. — We saw the Pawnee face for the first time. As 

the sun was about to set behind the hills, twenty-three war- 
riors, mounted on horseback and armed with bows and arrows, 
appeared upon the top of a distant eminence, between us 
and the declining sun. After reconnoitering our position for 
a few minutes headed by their chief they came sweeping 
down the slope at a quick charge. There was something in 
their appearance not exactly warlike, but as having rather 
the insolent bearing of confident robbers, whose eyes brighten 
with the sight of the spoil they already regarded as wrested 
from the hands of weak and defenseless emigrants. We 
armed ourselves with our rifles and went out to meet them. 
We should have remained behind our wagons, which would 
have served as a breast-work. However, the leader of our 
company did not think so; and we accordingly all went out. 
But the wary and observing chief of these roving robbers, 
seeing that we were likely to give them a reception very 
different from the one he looked for, instantly altered his 
whole conduct and aspect. Seeing our determination and 
condition, though we were still inferior to his strength, he 
instantly changed from the firm and cruel expression of a 
plundering savage to the bland and pleasant aspect of a 
friend. 



Territorial Expansion 



395 



Buffalo 
hunt. 



June 8. — We arrived at the Nebraska at 2 o'clock, P. M., 
and we then proceeded up it till about 5 o'clock, when we 
encamped at a place that had recently been occupied by an 
advance party. . . . 

June 14. — All the company had, without much ceremony, Wedding, 
been invited to attend a wedding, at the tent of Mr. Lord, 
at 9 o'clock that evening. . . . 

I can not say that I much approve of a woman marrying 
upon the road. It looks so much like making a sort of hop, 
skip, and jump into matrimony. . . . 

June 16. — We saw this day a multitude of bison. They 
seemed almost to cover the country in some places. The 
dark rolling masses, even in the distance, made a low, dull, 
rumbling sound, like an approaching earthquake, — such was 
the rattling of their hoofs and horns. Hunters, trappers, 
voyageurs, or emigrants when they are in the bison country, 
relieve the monotony of the day's toil by the excitement of 
the chase. . . . Then, after the camp fires are lighted, there 
comes on the roasting of ribs and houdins, the chef d'oeuvre 
of all who know how to appreciate good eating in the great 
prairie wilderness. Stale anecdotes are retailed — puns good, 
bad, or indifferent are perpetrated; all kinds of jokes and 
jests are cracked; or, it may be, veritable stories are related 
of life full of startling adventure and the most thrilling in- 
cident. . . . 

July 7. — The day was the warmest we had experienced. Suffering 
and the dust filled the lungs, nose, ears, and hair; and so ^^^^ ^^^ 
covered the face, that it was sometimes difficult to recognize 
each other. ... I have known the time when I would have 
given fifty dollars for a pair of goggles. We suffered from 
this almost insupportable flying sand or dust for weeks 
together. 

July 8. — At this place the first open and very marked at- Outlawry, 
tempt was made to seize upon my property, and leave myself 
and wife in the wilderness, exposed to the tender mercies of 
the savages. David came to my wagon, with one Rice Dun- 
bar, and coolly informed me that he intended to take from 



396 



Readliujs in American History 



Ascent to 

South 

Pass. 



South 
Pass. 



Wrong 
advice and 
suffering 
of com- 
pany. 



mc two ox-yokes and their cliains. . . . He took up the 
second yoke, and loaded himseU' with it and the chain; and 
I took up a musket, which although not loaded, had a bayonet 
upon it, and immediately came down upon him with fixed 
bayonet ... I then sprang into my wagon and got my six- 
shooter. I then marched him out and marched him before 
me to the first yoke and chain taken by him, which, with 
great docility, he took up and carried back to my wagon. . . . 

July 18. — The ascent to the top of the pass is so gradual 
that it is somewhat difficult at first to fix the culminating 
point. We had approached it from Rock Independence, over 
a gradually ascending plane, one hundred and twenty miles 
in length, and our road conducted us to the summit by an 
ascent so regular that we did not, upon arriving at it, realize 
at first the elevation to which we had attained. It is, there- 
fore, in this peculiarity entirely unlike the winding ascent by 
which the traveler toils up the Alleghany. . . . 

This South Pass possesses great interest when we come to 
observe that in its immediate vicinity the Colorado, the Co- 
lumbia, the Missouri, and the Nebraska have their sources. 

July 20. — We all resumed our journey; our California 
friends turning to the left and we continuing along the right 
hand road, . . . On the eighth of August they were directed 
by a group of men who claimed to be marking out a new 
route that by taking the road indicated the emigrants would 
be able to shorten the 850 miles still before them by 200 
miles. This advice was acted upon. Instead of shortening 
the route, they were forced to travel some 600 miles further 
before reaching their destination. Their food was almost 
exhausted; wagons were abandoned because of the death of 
oxen and a part of the journey was performed on foot with 
extreme suffering, some of the company dying of starvation 
and e.cposure. 

August 22. — The country over which we had passed was 
dreary beyond description. The earth was iron and the 
heavens brass. Everything was parched and arid; . . . The 
oxen hurried forward with a rapidity which will be consid- 



Territorial Expansion 



397 



ered great, if we remember that they had now been two days 
and one night without either water or. grass. . . . 

We made a large fire, at which Mrs. Thornton prepared 
tea; we having brought a little water with us from the river. 
This and a small allowance of crackers, only equal, however, 
to the amount to which we had confined ourselves for several 
weeks, she divided with our unhappy companions in peril 
and travel. 

On the night of our encampment in the Siskia mountains, 
some of the emigrants had not an ounce of bread, and only 
a small quantity of very poor, unwholesome, and innutrious 
beef. 

November 4. — We passed household and kitchen furniture, 
beds and bedding, books, carpets, cooking utensils, dead 
cattle, broken wagons, and wagons not broken, but, never- 
tlieless abandoned. In short, the whole road presented the 
appearance of a defeated and retreating army, having passed 
over it, . . . 

November IS. — On this day, just seven months from the 
rime of entering then upon our journey, we entered the head 
of the Willamette Valley. This was an important point in 
our journey and I seemed to have thrown off from my 
shoulder, at the foot of the mountain, when I first entered 
the valley a load of care that had long oppressed me, . . . 



Reach 
Willa- 
mette 
valley. 



the 



79. Discovery of Gold in California 

Reverend Walter Colton was a chaplain in the navy. His ship was 
ordered to CaHfornia, and he was appointed provisional alcalde in 
Monterey by Commodore Stockton in 1846. During September 
of that year he held the first jury trial in California. Through his 
influence also the first school-house in California is said to have been 
tiuilt and the first newspaper started. His Diary gives an excellent 
account of the time. — (Reverend Walter Colton, Three Years in 
California, 245 passim. New York, 1850.) 

Monday, June 12. — A straggler came in to-day from the Gold first 
American Fork, bringing a piece of yellow ore weighing an gred°^" 
ounce. One brought a spyglass, another an iron ladle; some 



398 



Readings in American History 



Excite- 
ment. 



All types 
flock to 
the mines. 



wanted to melt it, others to hammer it, and a few were satis- 
fied with smeUing it. All were full of tests; and many, who 
could not be gratified in making their experiments, declared 
it a humbug. . . . They could not conceive that such a 
treasure could have lain there so long undiscovered. The 
idea seemed to convict them of stupidity. 

Tuesday, June 2Q. — My messenger sent to the mines, has 
returned with specimens of the gold; he dismounted in a sea 
of upturned faces. As he drew forth the yellow lumps from 
his pockets, and passed them around among the eager crowd, 
the doubts, which had lingered till now, fled. All admitted 
they were gold, except one old man, who still persisted they 
were some Yankee invention, got up to reconcile the people 
to the change of flag. The excitement produced was intense, 
and many were soon busy in their hasty preparations for a 
departure to the mines. The family who had kept house 
for me caught the moving infection. Husband and wife 
were both packing up; the blacksmith dropped his hammer, 
the carpenter his plane, the mason his trowel, the farmer his 
sickle, the baker his loaf, and the tapster his bottle. All 
were off for the mines, some on horses, some on carts, and 
some on crutches, and one went in a litter. Debtors ran of 
course. I have only a community of women left, and a gang 
of prisoners, with here and there a soldier, who will give his 
captain the slip at the first chance. I don't blame the fellow 
a whit; seven dollars a month, while others are making two 
or three hundred a day! that is too much for human nature 
to stand. . . . 

Saturday, July 15. — The gold fever has reached every serv- 
ant in Monterey; none are to be trusted in their engage- 
ment beyond a week. General Mason, Lieutenant Lanman, 
and myself, form a mess; we have a house, and all the table 
furniture and culinary apparatus requisite; but our servants 
have run, one after another, till we are almost in despair; 
even Sambo, who we thought would stick by from laziness, 
if no other cause, ran last night; and this morning, for the 
fortieth time, we had to take to the kitchen, and cook our 



Territorial Expansion 399 

own breakfast. A general of the United States Army, the 
commander of a man-of-war, and the Alcalde of Monterey, 
in a smoking kitchen, grinding coffee, toasting a herring, 
pealing onions! These gold mines are going to upset all the 
domestic arrangements of society. 

Tuesday, July 18. — Another bag of gold from the mines, 
and another spasm in the community. My carpenters at 
work on the school-house, on seeing it, threw down their saws 
and planes, shouldered their picks, and are off for the Yuba. 
Three seamen ran from the Warren, forfeiting their four 
years' pay; and a whole platoon of soldiers from the fort 
left only their colors behind. . . . 

Saturday, August 12. — My man Bob, who is of Irish ex- Wealth 
traction and who had been in the mines about two months, amassed, 
returned to Monterey four weeks since, bringing with him 
over two thousand dollars, as the proceeds of his labor. Bob, 
while in my employ, required me to pay him every Saturday 
night, in gold, which he put into a little leather bag and sewed 
into the lining of his coat, after taking out twelve and a half 
cents, his weekly allowance for tobacco. But now he took 
rooms and began to branch out; he had the best horses, the 
richest viands, and the choicest wines in the place. He never 
drank himself, but it filled him with delight to brim the 
sparkling goblets for others. Multitudes here are none the 
richer for the mines. . . . 

Thursday, Aug. 17. — Let me introduce a man well known 
to me, who has worked on the Yuba river sixty-four days, 
and brought back as the result of his individual labor, five 
thousand three hundred and fifty-six dollars. Make a dot 
there, and let me introduce another townsman, who has 
worked on the North Fork fifty-seven days, and brought 
back four thousand five hundred and thirty-four dollars. 
Make a dot there, and let me introduce a boy fourteen years 
of age, who has worked on the Mokelumne fifty-four days, 
and brought back three thousand four hundred and sixty- 
seven dollars. I>et me introduce a woman who has worked 
in the dry diggings forty-six days, and brought back two 



400 



Readings in American Ilislori/ 



Creditors 
enabled to 
pay debts. 



Get-ricli- 
quick type 
developed. 



At the 
minea 



thousand one hundred and twenty-five dollars. Is not this 
enough to make a man throw down his ledger and shoulder 
a pick. . . . 

Saturday, Sept. 16. — The gold mines are producing one 
good result; every creditor who has gone there is paying his 
debts. Claims not deemed worth a farthing are now cashed 
on presentation at nature's great bank. This has rendered 
the credit of every man here good for almost any amount. 
Orders for merchandise are honored which six months ago 
would ha^•e been thrown into the fire. There is none so poor, 
who has two stout arms and a pickaxe left, but he can empty 
any store in Monterey. All distinctions indicative of means 
have vanished; the only capital required is muscle and an 
honest purpose. I met a man to-day from the mines in 
patched buckskins, rough as a badger from his hole who had 
fifteen thousand dollars in yellow dust, swung at his back. 
Talk to him of brooches, gold-headed canes, and Carpenter's 
coats! Why he can unpack a lump of gold that would throw 
all Chestnut Street into spasms. And there is more where 
this came from. With these advantages, he bends the knee 
to no man, but strides along in his buckskins, a lord of earth 
by a higher prescriptive privilege than what emanates from 
the partiality of Kings. Clear out of the way with your 
crests, and crowns, and pedigree-trees, and let this democrat 
pass. . . . 

Wednesday, Oct. 4. — Our camping-ground is in a broad 
ravine through which a rivulet wanders, and which is dotted 
with the frequent tents of gold-diggers. The sountls of the 
crowbar and pick, as they shake or shi\er the rock, are echoed 
from a thousand cliffs; while the hum of human voices rolls 
off on the breeze to mingle with the barking of wolves, who 
regard with no friendly eyes this intrusion into their solitude. 
But little care the gold-diggers about the wolves, it is enough 
for them to know that this ravine contains gold; and it must 
be dug out, though an earthquake slumber beneath. 

The provisions with which we left San Jose are gone and 
we have been obliged to supply ourselves here. We pay at 



Territorial Expansion 401 

the rate of four hundred dollars a barrel for flour; four dollars Prices of 
a pound for poor hrown sugar, and four dollars a pound for ^i"™™"*^'" 
indifferent coffee. And as for meat, there is none to be got increased, 
except jerked-beef, which is the flesh of the bullock cut into 
strings and hung up in the sun to dry, and which has about 
as much juice in it as a strip of bark dangling in the wind 
from a dead tree. Oh ye who lose your temper because 
your sirloin has rolled once too much on the spit, come to 
the mines of California and eat jerked-beef! . . . 

Friday, Oct. 6. — The most efficient gold-washer here is Goid- 
the cradle which resembles in shape that appendage of the ^^^^'"S- 
nursery, from which it takes its name. It is nine or ten feet 
long, open at one end and closed at the other. At the end 
which is closed, a sheet-iron pan, four inches deep, and six- 
teen over, and perforated in the bottom with holes, is let in 
even with the sides of the cradle. The earth is thrown into 
the pan, water turned on it and the cradle, which is on an 
inclined plane, set in motion. The earth and water pass 
through the pan, and then down the cradle, while the gold, 
owing to its specific gravity, is caught by elects fastened 
across the bottom. Very little escapes it ; it generally lodges 
before it reaches the last elect. It requires four or five men 
to supply the earth and water to work such a machine to 
advantage. The quantity of gold washed out must depend 
on the relative proportion of gold in the earth. The one 
worked in this ravine yields a hundred dollars a day; but 
this is considered a slender result. Most of the diggers use 
the bowl or pan; its lightness never embarrasses their roving 
habits; and it can be put in motion wherever they may find 
a stream or spring. It can be purchased now in the mines 
for five or six dollars; a few months since it cost an ounce — 
sixteen dollars for a wooden bowl ! But I have seen twenty- 
four dollars paid for a box of seidlitz powders, and forty 
dollars for as many drops of laudanum. 

Wednesday, Oct. 18. — We are camped in the heart of the 
richest deposits which have been found, and where there are 
many hundred at work. I have taken some pains to ascer- 



402 



Readings in America?! History 



Prospect- 
ing. 



Great 
migration. 



Types of 
men. 



tain the average per man that is got out; it must l)e less than 
half an ounce per day. It might be more were there any 
stability among the diggers; but half their time is consumed 
in what they call prospecting; that is, looking up new de- 
posits. An idle rumor, or mere surmise, will carry them off 
in this direction or that, when perhaps they gathered nothing 
for their weariness and toil. A locality where an ounce a 
day can be obtained by patient labor is constantly left for 
another, which rumor has enriched with more generous de- 
posits. They who decry this instability in others, ma\' hold 
out for a time, but yield at last to the same phrensied fickle- 
ness. I have never met with one who had the strength of 
purpose to resist these roving temptations. He will not 
swing a pick for an ounce a day, with the rumor of pounds 
ringing in his ears. . . . 

Wednesday, Nov. 8. — Some fifty thousand persons are 
drifting up and down these slopes of the great Sierra, of every 
hue, language, and clime, tumultuous and confused as a flock 
of wild geese taking wing at the crack of a gun. All are in 
quest of gold ; and, with eyes dilated to the circle of the moon, 
rush this way and that, as some new discovery, or fictitious 
tale of success may suggest. ... 

Such a mixed and motley crowd — such a restless, roving, 
rummaging ragged multitude, never before roared in the 
rookeries of man. As for mutual aid and sympathy — Sam- 
son's foxes had as much of it, turned with tail to, with fire- 
brands tied between. Each great camping-ground is de- 
noted by the ruins of shovels and shanties, the bleaching 
bones of the dead, dishumed by the wolf, and the skeleton 
of the culprit, still swinging in the wind, from the limb of 
a tree, overshadowed by the raven. 

Thursday, Nov. 9. — Our bocarro came in this morning, 
and sLartled us with the intelligence that last night, while 
he was on watch — sound asleep, of course — the wild Indians 
came and stole all our horses and mules. Rather an awkward 
predicament for us, in the California mountains, three hun- 
dred miles from home, and our horses and mules in the hands 
of v/ild Indians! . . . 



Territorial Exyansion 403 

Thursday, May 24. — These, and other insular spots, may California 
be made perfect gardens; but take Cahfornia as a whole, for*agri-*'^ 
she is not the country which agriculturists would select, culture. 
You can hardly travel through it in niidsununer without 
loading your mule down with provender to keep him alive. 
The productive forces of such a state as New York, Ohio, or 
Pennsylvania, sweep immeasurably beyond the utmost capa- 
bilities of California. It is the golden coronet that gives 
this land her pre-eminence, and puts into her hand a magic 
wand, that will shake for ages the exchanges of the civilized 
world. . . . 

Wednesday, June 20. — The causes which exclude slavery No 
from California lie within a nut-shell. All here are diggers, ^'^^^''y- 
and free white diggers wont dig with slaves. They know 
they must dig themselves: they have come out here for that 
purpose, and they wont degrade their calling by associating it 
with slave-labor: self-preservation is the first law of nature. 
They have nothing to do with slavery in the abstract, or as 
it exists in other communities; not one in ten cares a button 
for its abolition, nor the Wilmot Proviso either: all they look 
at is their own position; they must themselves swing the 
pick, so they wont swing it by the side of negro slaves. That 
is their feeling, their determination, and the upshot of the 
whole business. An army of half a million, backed by the 
resources of the United States, could not shake their purpose. 
Of all men with whom I have ever met, the most firm, res- 
olute, and indomitable, are the emigrants into California. 
They feel that they have got into a new world, where they 
have a right to shape and settle things in their own way. No 
mandate, unless it comes like a thunder-bolt straight out of 
heaven, is regarded. They may offer to come into the Union, 
but they consider it an act of condescension. They walk 
over hills treasured with the precious ores; they dwell by 
streams paved with gold. All these belong to them; they 
feel their presence and power, and partake of their grandeur. 
Think you that such men will consent to swing the pick by 
the side of slaves? Never! while the stream owns its source, 
or the mountain its base. . . . 



404 



Readings in American History 



Growth of 
San Fran- 
cisco. 



Prices in 
San Fran- 
cisco. 



80. Influence of Gold-Mining on the Development 
OF San Francisco 

(Selected from Six Months in the Gold Mines, by Edward G. 
Buffum, Lieutenant First Regiment New York Volunteers, January 
1, 1850.) 

Within the past six months, the growth of San Francisco 
has been enormous. During that time, at least a thousand 
houses have been erected, of all sizes and forms. The hills 
around the town are now covered with buildings, and every 
spot of ground near the center is occupied. When it is taken 
into consideration, that lumber during this time has never 
been lower than two hundred and fifty and often as high as 
four hundred dollars per thousand, and carpenters' wages 
have been at from twelve to twenty dollars a day, it must 
be conceded on all hands, that the Californians are at least 
an enterprising people. During this time the price of real 
estate has risen in proportion with the growth of the town, 
property being now fifty per cent, higher than it was si.\ 
months since. A lot on Portsmouth Square, which was pur- 
chased some three years ago for fifteen dollars, and sold last 
May for six thousand, was purchased a few days since for 
forty thousand dollars! The mere ground-rent of a little 
piece of land of sufficient size to erect a house upon, in any 
of the public streets, varies from one hundred to five hundred 
dollars a month. Rents of houses ai"e, of course, in propor- 
tion to the price of real estate. The " Parker House," a 
hotel upon the Square, is leased for two hundred thousand 
dollars per annum, and under-leased in small portions, at a 
profit of fifty thousand more. In the " El Dorado," a large 
building next to the Parker House, a single room on the lower 
floor is rented for gambling purposes, for one hundred and 
eighty dollars a day. Most of the large rooms in the hotels 
are rented to gamblers, each table where a game is played 
paying thirty dollars a day. A man wlio erects a house 
in San Francisco usualk' intends that the rent should cover 



Territorial Expansion 



405 



all expenses of the building in three or four months, and in 
this he generally succeeds. Mechanics command enormous 
wages. Carpenters are now getting from twelve to twenty 
dollars a day, and tin-smiths, brick-layers, paper-hangers, 
and others employed in the construction of buildings, the 
same; while common day-labourers command eight dollars 
a day for their services. Board varies from sixteen to forty 
dollars per week, and washing costs eight dollars per dozen. 

81. Arguments in Favor of Negro Slavery 

(Matthew Estes, A Defence of Negro Slavery as It Exists in the 
United States, 95 passim. Montgomery, 1846.) 



V 



with op- 
eratives. 



Numerous important advantages result from the institu- slaves 
tion of slavery in this country, to which I will now respect- ^^''on. 
fully invite the attention of the reader. 

1. The Slave. — The advantages to the slave are very 
great. — It is almost needless to contrast the contented, happy 
state of our blacks, with the discontented, unhappy state of 
the operatives in other countries. Speeches of members of 
Parliament in England, reports of committees of the House, 
reports of commissioners of the poor present us with a horrid 
picture of society in England. In many parts of the realm 
nearly one-half of the population are on the pauper list. In 
some places, the tax on land to support the poor is so heavy, 
that farms are voluntarily abandoned by their owners, on ac- 
count of their inability to pay the tax. 

2. Our negroes have religious advantages altogether su- 
perior to the laboring population of any country in Europe, 
and equal to the common class of operative in our Northern 
States. . . . The change of the three millions of Africans in 
this country from the darkness of African idolatry to the 
light of Christianity, is the most wonderful achievement of 
modern times— far transcending, in my humble conception, 
the great reformation in the sixteenth century. ... I could 
prove from the census of 1840, that the free negroes at the 



Slaves 
and crime. 



406 



Readings in American History 



Advances 
of slaves. 



Physical 
condition 
of slaves. 



The 
master. 



North are guilty of more crimes in proportion to numbers, 
than any similar number of individuals in the United States. 
Our slaves, in fact, are not guilty of one-tenth of the crimes 
which are committed by the free negroes at the North. I 
think it is probable that it could be made to appear, that 
the few free negroes in the free States, are guilty of more 
crimes than our whole black population. 

3. The institution of slavery has been beneficial to the 
negro in an intellectual point of view. ... In a little more 
than two centuries, our negroes have advanced from the low- 
est state of savageism, to a state of comparative civilization. 
No similar instance can be found in history — nor, had the 
slaves been free, would they have made even a start towards 
their present condition. 

4. Physical benefits of Slavery. — The world cannot pro- 
duce a more vigorous, healthy race of men than our negroes 
— a race freer from all constitutional or hereditary taints of 
every kind. 

II. The Master. — The advantages of slavery to the white 
race at the South are — 1st. Increase of Intelligence. — In 
point of general intelligence, especiall}' in everything relating 
to politics, we must be permitted to maintain our decided 
superiority over our Northern brethren. Not only have the 
Southern people a superiority in point of political intelli- 
gence, but they have a very great superiority in the capacity 
of public speaking. 

2nd. Slavery cultivates in the South a spirit of lofty and 
generous patriotism. 

The very existence among us of an inferior population, 
whose business it is to perform most of the hard drudgery 
which is essential to the well-being of man, creates a higher 
tone of character, and as a consequence, a much higher de- 
gree of principle and action. The South has ever taken the 
lead in all those measures which have reflected most honor 
upon the nation. 

III. The Country. The reader will please call to mind 
a fact already mentioned, viz: that the constitution of the 



Territorial Expansioji 



407 



Slave 
labor a 
necessity 



negro peculiarly fits him for a hot climate; that in such a 
climate he is in his proper element, whilst the white man, 
on the contrary, is adapted to a more northern climate, and 
cannot bear extensive exposure at the South, without great 
risk of injury to his constitution. It must be admitted as a 
fact, then, that without negro labor, the larger and more 
fertile portion of the South would be left uncultivated. I 
take it for granted that the negroes must be in a state of 
slavery; for if it were otherwise, free black labor could never 
])e commanded to the extent necessary to cultivate the soil 
as at present. ... 

1st. Slave labor improves the health of the country. 
New Orleans, Charleston, and other Southern towns and 
cities, are built upon marshes, which have been filled up by to the 
slave labor. Our Southern climate being unfriendly to the 
constitution of the white man, he could never be induced 
voluntarily to undertake the removal of such sources of 
disease. The negro, on the contrary, can perform such labor 
without the slightest injury to his constitution. 

2nd. The cotton, tobacco, rice and sugar of the South, 
all the products of slave labor, constitute the basis of much 
of the wealth of this country, North and South, and also of 
Europe. Destroy the production of cotton at the South, 
and you will almost ruin Europe and America; for all other 
portions of the world, it has been ascertained, could not 
supply the demand for this article. Since the acquisition 
of Texas, the South enjoys a monopoly of the cotton lands 
of the world. . . . The world, then, is indebted to the slave 
labor of the South, for a supply of this very important article. 
. . . More than one-half of the manufacturing establish- 
ments of this country and of England are engaged in th^ 
manufacture of cotton goods. Thus it appears, that in 
different ways, the cotton raised at the South by our slaves, 
gives employment to a larger number of individuals — con- 
tributes more to the comfort of mankind generally, than any 
other single, nay, any other five articles of trade, commerce, 
or agriculture. . . . Our rice, tobacco, and sugar, are like- 



40S 



Readings in American History 



wise extensively beneficial to the world. . . . Our rice is 
sent to many parts of the world where it is extensively used 
as a cheap and wholesome article of diet. The destruction 
of this single branch of agriculture would bring almost in- 
calculable evils upon the world; for it is not only useful as 
a common article of diet, but is almost indispensable in sick- 
ness, as every medical man well knows. Tobacco is an article 
of extensive use, and employs in its production and manufac- 
ture, a great number of individuals. This article is the prod- 
uct of slave labor, and could not be raised to anything like 
the same extent without it. 

Sugar is almost exclusively the product of slave labor, and 
cannot, it is ascertained, be profitably made by whites. Free 
black labor can never be commanded to any considerable 
extent; so we are bound to rely upon slave labor. . . . We 
may set it down as an established fact, then, that but for 
our slaves the South would be uncultivated; that the prim- 
itive forests would again cover our fields, and the world 
would be deprived of all the incalculable benefits that flow 
from our agriculture. . . . When this discussion first com- 
menced years ago, scarcely a man could be found in the 
Union who had the boldness to advocate slavery as an ab- 
stract right. Slavery was defended simply upon the ground 
of expediency, and hence all parties agreed, that it should 
be abolished just as soon as it could be effected. So strong 
in fact, was the anti-slavery feeling at the South, that the 
State of Virginia, the largest slave State in the Union came 
within a few votes of abolishing it. . . . As the public mind 
has been enlightened, men have become more and more 
convinced of the indispensable necessity of slavery in the 
The North present state of the world. . . . Another fact in connection 
with negro slavery at the North is, that it could never be 
made profitable there. It was very early ascertained that 
the climate was not adapted to the constitution of the negro, 
— hence one of the causes of the great mortality among the 
blacks at the North. Nor is the North adapted to the growth 
of these products, in the cultivation of which slave labor is 



Anti- 
slavery 
sentiment 
at the 
South. 



and slave 
labor. 



Territorial Expansion 



409 



most profitable. From this it appears that our Northern 
friends are entitled to no particular credit for abolishing 
slavery; they almost invarial)ly sold their negroes, before 
the law could take effect which they had passed abolishing 
Slavery. . . . 

Our Slave population at this time numbers about three Effects of 
millions of souls, estimated to be worth one thousand mil- Q^^hg"" 
lions of dollars. This is a vast amount of property, which South, 
no five millions of people in the world will voluntarily give 
up for the sake of conscience. But as large as this amount 
is, it is only one item: the depreciation in value of our land, 
and other property, as the result of abolition, would equal 
the value of the negroes — that is, one thousand millions of 
dollars. In a word, the abolition of Slavery at the South, 
would impoverish every Slave State in the Union, with 
probably one or two exceptions; and the result would not 
be much different in the non-slaveholding States. The South 
furnishes the raw material to the North, for most of their 
manufactures, and likewise their only customers, England, 
France, in fact, the whole world, would feel the shock of 
abolition. . . . 

But let us suppose all difficulties overcome, and Slavery 
abolished throughout the South. . . . 

One of the most obvious of these consequences would be, Abolition 
an increase of distance between the two races. Nature has ^"!?^!;L^f 
marked broad lines of distinction between them, which will 
ever, in this country at least, keep them widely separated, 
and it must be acknowledged that this is a wise and salu- 
tary provision of nature, to keep the two races distinct and 
separate. . . . At the North, bitter and deep-rooted preju- 
dices exist against the colored race: whilst there is a legal 
equality, there is the most striking practical inequality in all 
the departments of life. ... At the South, the black race 
stands much nearer the white, than at the North. The 
white man knows that the negro is not, and never can be 
his equal, nor even desires to be. There is not, then, be- 
tween the two races, that spirit of jealousy and rivalry that 



410 Readings in American History 

exists at the North. An acknowledged inferior is alwaj's 
treated with more respect and kindness in his subordinate, 
dependent position, than when he aspires to an equaUty. 
In the former relation, a kindly paternal feeling is engendered, 
which operates as a protection to the inferior; when, on the 
contrary, the inferior aspires to an equality, this kindly 
paternal feeling gives way to a feeling of repulsion, hate and 
jealousy. ... 

Should Slavery be abolished among us, this repulsive feel- 
ing will be engendered to an alarming extent, that will en- 
danger, at least temporarily, the peace and good order of 
society. . . . The blacks at the North are too few in numbers 
to resist ; they have in consequence, with but few exceptions, 
submitted quietly to all the indignities which have been heaped 
upon them. It would be far otherwise at the South, where 
the two races are nearly equal in numbers: hence maltreat- 
ment of the black race would be met with resistance, and a 
state of turmoil and strife, the consequences of which could 
not be foreseen, would invariably ensue. Riots, murders, 
mobs, pillage and general discontent and alarm would be 
the order of the day. A strong military force, kept up at 
enormous expense, would be necessary to preserve the public 
peace. . . . 
Emancipa- But other evils would follow emancipation, one of which 
is idleness, on the part of the blacks. . . . 

Emancipation would not only lead to idleness on the part 
of the blacks, but would be the source of an incalculable 
amount of crime, disease, and misery of every kind. . . . 

One thing is true, that whether he is ever prepared for 
freedom or not, any sudden emancipation cannot be other- 
wise than the source of unmixed evil. If slavery is ever to 
cease in the world, it must be by gradual decay in its opera- 
tion almost imperceptible. . . . 



tion. 



Territorial Expansion 411 



82. A Picture of Immigration and Settlement, 1831 

(A True Picture of Emigration or Fourteen Years in The Interior 
of North America: Being a Full and Impartial Account of The Vari- 
ous Difficulties and Ultimate Success of an English Family Who 
Emigrated From Barwick-In-Elmet, near Leeds, In The Year 
1837, pp. 1-62.) 

Whatever may have been our success in America, I can Motives 

attribute but Httle of it to mvself; as I eave up the idea of of immi- 

" • I 1 grants, 

ending my days in my own country with the utmost reluc- 
tance, and should never have become an emigrant, if obedi- 
ence to my husband's wishes had left me any alternative. 
His motives, briefly stated, were these: In the year 1817 we 
took a small farm at a village in Yorkshire on a lease for 
fourteen years, and as corn was at that time selling well, 
the rent was fixed at too high a rate for us to obtain a com- 
fortable livelihood. We did indeed by dint of great industry 
and strict economy, maintain our credit to the end of the 
lease; but the severe struggles we had to endure to meet 
our payments, the gradual diminution of our little property, 
and the entire absence of any prospects of being able to supply 
the wants of a large family had tended effectually to fix my 
husband's purpose of trying what could be done in the west- 
ern world. We accordingly disposed of our little furniture, 
settled our pecuniary affairs, and ultimately began our long 
journey the last week in August, 1831. 

The reader will now enquire to what part of America we 
were going, or whether we had any plans as to the locality 
of our future home. This is an important consideration for 
every emigrant, though little attended to by many. We 
were not, however, like the poor Northumbrian, who on 
landing at New York a few years ago, required a person 
whom he met in the street, to direct him to the back settle- 
ments. My husband had travelled many miles to obtain 
a sight of private American letters, and after maturely con- 
sidering all the intelligence he could collect, he determined 



412 



Readings in American History 



Set out for 
America. 



Supplies 
on ship- 
board. 



to go to Pike County, Illinois, to a person named Mr. B , 

who had settled there a year or two before, and written to a 
brother of his in this country. 

Without further preface, we are therefore to be considered 
on our way from the centre of Yorkshire to Liverpool, self, 
husband, and five children, the eldest a boy about nine years 
old, two others we were leaving behind, the one my eldest 
son engaged as an under teacher in a boarding-school, the 
other my eldest daughter serving also in a respectable fam- 
ily. To persons such as we were, who had never been forty 
miles from home, a journey by waggon and railway, where 
every hour presents the eye with something new, does not af- 
ford the best opportunity for reflection; we in consequence 
reached Liverpool before we fully felt the importance of the 
step we were taking. . . . But it was at Liverpool, when we 
had got our luggage to a boarding house and were waiting 
the departure of a vessel, that the throes of leaving England 
and all its endearments put our courage to a test the most 
severe. . . . 

We were now passengers, in the steerage, on the vessel 
Home, bound for New Orleans. Our reasons for sailing to 
that port the most distant in North America, and not in a 
direct course to the Illinois, were on account of the ready 
transit we should make thence into the interior up the Missis- 
sippi; whereas, by landing at New York, Boston, or Phila- 
delphia, we should have had to cross the Alleghany moun- 
tains, and travel a great distance by land, which would have 
been both troublesome on account of our luggage and very 
expensive. 

As the wind was favourable we soon lost sight of the shore. 
Yet the eye with unwearied vigilance kept steadily fixed on 
the few eminences which remained visible, till they gradually 
waned into obscurit\', and at last disappeared altogether. . . . 

Although we were entire strangers to a sea-faring life, we 
found we had been judicious in the choice of our provisions; 
we were well supplied with oatmeal, and flour, bacon, bis- 
cuits, tea and coffee etc., and as we had to cook for ourselves 



Territorial Expansion 413 

at a fire which suppUed all the steerage passengers, I found 
I should have something to do besides descrying distant 
sails, and sighing a blessing to those bound for England. 

At home I had always been fond of regularity with regard 
to the dinner hour, but I soon found if I continued my punc- 
tual habits on board I should often be liable to be laughed at 
for my pains, and lose my dinner to the bargain. Imagine 
to yourself, a small fire surrounded by half-a-dozen sturdy 
rustics, as busy boiling, roasting, and frying, as if their lives 
depended upon a single meal, and I will hazard an opinion 
you would be very hungry before you would venture among 
them. I do not say they would eat you ; but either from the 
motion of the ship, or their uncouthness, your fortune would 
be better than mine if you got your meal prepared without 
being scalded. For the above reasons I soon forgot my 
punctuality, and through the remainder of the voyage our 
custom was to cook and eat when we could, for seasons are 
not unknown on ship-board when both must be dispensed 
with. . . . The sea was beginning to be unusually rough, its Rough 
huge foaming waves came dashing against the sides of the ^ 
vessel as if they had been let loose to destroy it. Some- 
times we appeared about to leave the waters, and become 
inhabitants of aerial regions; then again one might suppose 
the ship was instantaneously descending into the caverns of 
the deep, overwhelmed by the mass of waters which on all 
sides encompassed it, and at times came sweeping over the 
deck with irresistible fury. A thousand times I thought the 
ship would be upset by the force of the tempest, which, 
roaring tremendously, carried all before it, and often laid 
our masts nearly level with the main; when suddenly re- 
gaining her upright position, she seemed to be contending 
with the blast, and by a movement I can scarcely account 
for, obtruding her briny sails against the forces of the storm. 
Terror and dismay were on every hand. ... I shall never 
forget the horrors of that night, increased as they were by 
the heart-rending moanings of my despairing companions. 
... At length the morning began to dawn; we were all 



414 



Readings in American History 



New 
Orleans. 



From New 
Orleans to 
St. Louis. 



Arrive at 
desti- 
nation. 



anxiety to see the day, and ascertain our real situation. . . . 
Our ears had caused us to think the storm was abating; but 
this only increased our anxiety as we were afraid to hope, lest 
we should be deceived, when to our surprise the cabin door 
sprung open; it was the captain himself had opened it. His 
expressive words "the danger is past," were repeated again 
and again through all the cabin; and now the scene was 
changed. In the place of lamentations and the voice of 
despair, were immediately heard jocularity and the tumult 
of mirth. . . . 

New Orleans being the provision market for the West 
Indies and some of the Southern States, its port is frequented 
not merely by foreign traders, but by thousands of small 
craft, often of the rudest construction on which the settlers 
in the interior bring down the Aarious produce of their cli- 
mate and industry. The town itself, from its low marshy 
situation, is very unhealthy; the yellow fever is an everlast- 
ing scourge to its inhabitants, annually carrying off great 
numbers. As a trading port, New Orleans is the most famous 
and the best situated of any in America; . . . 

The time occupied in passing from New Orleans to St. 
Louis was about twelve days. We reached the latter place 
about noon, and found another steamer ready to convey us 
forward to the situation at which we purposed to remain. I 
had little opportunity of surveying the town, and therefore 
can say little respecting it; but was somewhat surprised 
to find that this noted city should be built principally of 
wood; . . . 

We had already travelled nearly seven thousand miles. 
Our food had been principally dried provisions. For many 
long weeks we had been oppressed with anxious suspense; 
there is therefore no cause for wonder, that, jaded and worn 
out as we were, we felt anxious to be at our destined situa- 
tion. Our enquiries of the sailors " how much further we 
had to go" almost exhausted their patience. Already we 
had been on the vessel twenty-four hours, when just at night- 
fall the packet stopped: a little boat was lowered into the 



Territorial Expansion 415 

water, and we were invited to collect our luggage and de- 
scend into it as we were at Phillip's Ferry; we were utterly 
confounded: there was no appearance of a landing place, 
no luggage yard, nor even a building of any kind within 
sight; we, however, attended to our directions, and in a few 
minutes saw ourselves standing by the brink of the river, 
bordered by a dark wood, with no one near to notice us or 
tell us where we might procure accommodation or find har- 
bour. This happened, as before intimated, as the evening 
shades were rapidly settling on the earth, and the stars 
through the clear blue atmosphere were beginning to twinkle. 
It was in the middle of November, and already very 
frosty. . . . 

It was a fair specimen of a log-house, and therefore a de- Log house, 
scription of it will give the reader a pretty correct idea of 
the American peasantry. There were two rooms, both on 
the ground floor, separated from each other with boards so 
badly joined, that crevices were in many places observable. 
. . . Beneath one of the rooms was a cellar, the floor and sides 
of which were mud and clay, as left when first dug out; the 
walls of the house consisting of layers of strong blocks of 
timber, roughly squared and notched into each other at the 
corners; the joints filled up with clay. The house had two 
doors, one of which is always closed in winter, and open in 
summer to cause a draught. The fire was on the floor at 
the end of the building, where a very grotesc^ue chimney 
had been constructed of stones gathered out of the land, 
and walled together with clay and mud instead of cement. 
The house was covered with oak shingles; that is to say, thin 
riven boards nailed upon each other, so as just to overreach. 
The floors of the house were covered with the same material, 
except a large piece near the fire, which was paved with small 
stones, also gathered from the land. There was no window 
to the house I am describing, although many log-houses 
may now be found having glass windows. It is in reality 
true, that the want of light is felt very little in a log-house; 
in winter they are obliged to keep fine blazing fires, which. 



416 Readings in American History 

in addition to the light obtained from their low wide chim- 
neys, enable the inmates to perform any business that is 
requisite. . . . 

Adjoining one side were a few boards nailed together in 
the form of a table, and supported principally by the timber 
in the wall. This was dignified with the name sideboard. 
In the centre of the room stood another small table, covered 
with a piece of brown calico; this was the dining table. 
The chairs, four in number, were the most respectable furni- 
ture in the house, having bark of hickory platted for bottoms. 
Besides these there were two stools and a bench for common 
use, — a candlestick made from an ear of Indian corn, two or 
three trenchers and a few tin drinking vessels. One corner 
of the house was occupied with agricultural implements, con- 
sisting of large hoes, axes etc., for stubbing, called in America 
grubbing, flails and wooden forks, all exhibiting specimens 
of workmanship rather homely. Various herbs were sus- 
pended from the roof with a view of being medicinally serv- 
iceable, also two guns, one of them a rifle. There were also 
several hams and sides of bacon, smoked almost till they 
were black; two or three pieces of beef, etc. . . . The furni- 
ture in the other room consisted of two beds and a hand- 
loom, with which the family wove the greater part of their 
own clothes. . . . 
Survey Before I proceed any further with my narrative, perhaps 

chase of' ^^ ^^'^ be of advantage to the reader to explain the method 
land. of purchasing land in the United States. The land in the 

various states has all been surveyed by direction of the 
government and divided into portions of eighty acres each. 
For the sale of the land thus surveyed and laid down on large 
plans, a land-office is established in various central situations, 
where all the allotments of a certain district are sold, and the 
purchasers' names registered. Any person, therefore, who 
wishes to purchase one more of these subsections, can see 
the plan, and select any that are unsold. They will even 
sell as small a quantity as forty acres; but as they do this 
merely to accommodate new settlers, no person already pos- 



Territorial Expansion 



417 



sessing eighty acres, can purchase a smaller quantity than 
that at a time. In some of the older states the government 
lands are all sold off. It must therefore be bought of private 
owners; but in Illinois and other new states there is plenty 
unsold. The government price everywhere is one hundred 
dollars for eighty acres. As there are myriads of acres yet 
in its native luxuriant wildness, any person may with im- 
punity cultivate as much as he chooses without paying any- 
thing; and, as a further inducement, when a person begins 
thus to cultivate, no other person can legally purchase that 
land, till four years have expired from the time of his begin- 
ning to cultivate. By obtaining what is termed a pre- 
emption, the improvement arising from his own industry is 
as secure to him for four years as if he was the actual owner. 
Should, however, he fail to pay for the land before the term 
expires, an indifferent person may then purchase it; but 
this seldom happens. . . . An improved eighty acres was 
the first land we purchased. . . . 

The nights in winter are at once inexpressibly cold, and Climate, 
poetically fine. The sky is almost invariably clear, and 
the stars shine with a brilliancy entirely unknown in the 
humid atmosphere of England. Cold as it was, often did 
I, during the first winter, stand at the door of our cabin, 
admiring their lustre and listening to the wolves, whose 
bowlings, among the leafless woods at this season, are al- 
most unceasing. 

The first fruits of our industry were derived from our Maple 
sugar orchard, the care of which devolved principally on me. ^"^ar. 
We were in want of nearly all kinds of implements of hus- 
bandry, without the means of procuring them, except by 
running into debt, a practice which we felt reluctant to adopt. 
Our sugar trees therefore at this time afforded us a season- 
able boon. The weather was favourable, and by hard work- 
ing we made nearly three hundred weight, besides a barrel 
of molasses. We disposed of the greater part of it to a 
store-keeper named Mr. Varley, at the rate of seven or eight 
cents per pound. It must not be understood that we got 



418 



Readings in American History 



Is immi- 
gration de- 
sirable? 



Praines. 



money for it. Business is seldom transacted after that 
manner in Illinois. . . . 

And now, kind reader, if thou hast any intention of being 
an emigrant, I cordially wish thee success; but before thou 
forsakest the endearments of thy present home, consider the 
situation in which we were placed with a helpless family 
dependent upon us. Thou hast seen us expend our little 
money with the utmost frugality: thou art acquainted with 
our possessions real and personal. It was now the middle 
of March, when Indian corn, the most useful produce of that 
country must be sown, or the season would be past. We 
had land and seed but no plough. What could we do? If 
we did not sow we could not reap; we should have nothing 
to feed our cattle with the ensuing winter. Labor omnia vincit 
w'as our motto. W^e set to work with our hoes; I, husband, 
and son, the latter under ten years of age ; and day after day, 
for three successive weeks, did we toil with unwearied dili- 
gence till we had sown and covered in nearly four acres. . . . 

In Illinois there are thousands of acres with not a tree 
upon it, but covered wuth a sort of strong wild grass, growing 
sometimes three or four feet high. These lands are termed 
prairies, and require only to be broken up with a prary 
plough, and they become at once fine arable land. As I before 
intimated, this kind of land, though the soonest cultivated, 
is not the most productive being, as the farmers term it, of 
a stronger quality than the other. . . . Let the reader im- 
agine himself by the side of a rich meadow, or fine grass 
plain several miles in diameter, decked with myriads of 
flowers of a most gorgeous and varied description, and he 
will have before his mind a pretty correct representation of 
one of these prairies. Nothing can surpass in richness of 
colour, or beauty of formation many of the flowers, which 
are found in the most liberal profusion on these extensive 
and untrodden wilds. ... 

America is certainly and emphatically the country for the 
feathered tribe, whether numbers, variety, or beauty be the 
subject of special consideration. . . . 



Territorial Expansion 419 

I ought in fairness to state what our success has been ; I do 
this and no more; the lapse of a dozen years has wonderfully 
changed the appearance of things. We have seen a neigh- 
borhood rise around us; and in some situations, where at 
our first coming, everything appeared in its native wildness, 
small villages have now begun to rise. Means of comfort 
are now within our reach. We remember the time when we 
knew not where to apply for an article if at all out of daily 
use; but by the increase of population, we can now easily 
obtain anything we require, and were we disposed to give 
up labour, we could live very comfortably on the fruits of 
our former toil. . . . 



CHAPTER XXII 
SLAVERY EXTENSION AND SECTIONAL FEELING 

83. Development of Railroads, 1850-60 

(J. C. G. Kennedy, Report of the Superintendent of the Census, 
December 1, 1852, pp. 99 passim. Washington, 1853. Prehminary 
Report on the Eighth Census, 1860, pp. 103 passim. Washington, 

1862.) 



Prosperity 
and roads. 



Miles of 
railroad, 
1852. 



In no other particular can the prosperity of a country be 
more strikingly manifested than by the perfection of its 
roads and other means of internal communication. The 
system of railroads, canals, turnpikes, post routes, river 
na\igation, and telegraphs, possessed by the United States, 
presents an indication of its advancement in power and civil- 
ization more wonderful than any other feature of its progress. 
In truth, our country in this respect occupies the first place 
among the nations of the world. 

From returns received at this office, in reply to special 
circulars, and other sources of information, it is ascertained 
that there werej at the commencement of the year 1852, 
10,814 miles of railroads completed and in use; and that 
10,898 miles were then in course of construction, with a 
prospect of being speedily brought into use. While the 
whole of these 10,898 miles will, beyond reasonable doubt, 
have been finished within five years, such is the activity with 
which projects for works of this character are brought for- 
ward and carried into effect, that it is not extra\agant to 
assume that there will be completed within the limits of the 
United States before the year 18(30 at least 35,000 miles of 
railroads. 

420 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 421 



The Quincy railroad, for the transportation of granite 
from the quarries at Quincy to Neponset river and the Mauch 
Chunk railroad, from the coal mines to the Lehigh river, 
in Pennsylvania, were the first attempts to introduce that 
mode of transportation in this country; and their construc- 
tion and opening, in the years 1826 and 1827, are properly 
considered the commencement of the American railroad 
system. From this period until about the year 1848, the 
progress of the improvements thus begun was interrupted 
only by the financial revulsion which followed the events of 
1836 and 1837. Up to 1848, it is stated that about 6,000 
miles had been finished. Since that date an addition of 
5,000 miles has been made to the completed roads, and, in- 
cluding the present year, new lines, comprising about 14,000 
miles, have been undertaken, surveyed, and mostly placed 
under contract. 

The usefulness and comparative economy of railroads as 
channels of commerce and travel have become so evident, 
that they have in some measure superseded canals, and are 
likely to detract seriously from the importance of navigable 
rivers for like purposes. In a new country like ours, many 
items of expense, which go to swell the cost of railroads in 
England and on the Continent are avoided. Material is 
cheap; the right of way usually freely granted; and heavy 
land damages seldom interpose to retard the progress of an 
important work. It is difficult to arrive at a clear approxi- 
mation to the average cost of railroad construction in the 
United States. Probably the first important work of this 
class undertaken and carried through in the Union was the 
cheapest, as it has proved one of the most profitable, ever 
built. This was the road from Charleston, in South Carolina, 
to Augusta, on the Savannah. It was finished and opened 
for traffic in 1833. The entire expense of building the road 
and equipping it with engines and cars for passengers and 
freight was, at the date of its completion, only $6,700 per 
mile; and all expenditures for repairs and improvements, 
during the eighteen years that the road has been in opera- 



First 
railroads. 



Use of 
railroads. 



Cost of 
railroads. 



Charleston 
to Au- 
gusta. 



422 Readings in American History 

tion, have raised the aggregate cost of the whole work to 
only ,f 1,336,615, or less than $10,000 per mile. . . . 

It will be seen at a glance that the leading idea in all these 
vast enterprises was to overcome the barrier presented by 
this chain of mountains, to a direct and unrestricted inter- 
course between the sea board and the West, and to supply 
the want of those natural channels of commerce, navigable 
rivers, extending into the section we desire to reach. The 
enormous aggregate of expense of the numerous works spec- 
ified above, undertaken with this one object, and their im- 
portance as public improvements, may be estimated from 
New York the following brief notice of the New York and Erie railroad, 
Railroad which occupies the third place in our preceding enumeration. 
The longest continuous line of railroad in the world, and that 
in the construction of which the greatest natural obstacles 
have been overcome, is that which extends from the Hudson 
river, through the southern counties of New York, to Lake 
Erie. Its length is four hundred and sixty-nine miles, and 
it has branches of an additional length of sixty-eight miles. 
Nearly its whole course is through a region of mountains. 
The bridges by which it is carried over the Delaware and 
Susquehannah rivers, and other streams, and the viaducts 
upon which it crosses the valleys that intercept its route, 
are among the noblest monuments of power and skill to be 
found in our country. The most of these works are of heavy 
masonry; but one of them is a wooden bridge, one hundred 
and eighty-seven feet in height, with one arch, the span of 
which is two hundred and seventy-five feet. One of the 
viaducts is twelve hundred feet long, and one hundred and 
ten feet high. 

The aggregate cost of this important work was $23,580,000, 
and the expense of construction was $42,333 per mile. The 
road was originally suggested in 1829; a company was or- 
ganized in 1833; it was finished in May, 1851, and opened 
with great ceremony for travel and transportation in that 
month. The State advanced three millions of dollars to- 
wards the work, and afterwards released the company from 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 423 

the obligation to pay the loan. It will be seen that the exe- 
cution of this great work was pursued through nineteen years, 
and was not accomplished without calling into requisition 
both the resources of the State and the means of her citi- 
zens. . . . 

Since the fu"st edition of this report was put to press, in- 
formation has been received, tending to prove that 2,500 
miles of railroad, in progress at the beginning of 1852, had 
been completed during the year, and that 3,652 miles of 
new road had been placed under contract, making the ag- 
gregates of 13,266 miles of railroad in operation, and 12,681 
miles in progress, on the 1st of January, 1853. These facts 
display a rate of increase in the extension of the railroad 
system greater than the experience of former years had au- 
thorized us to anticipate. ... 

From the brief sketch of American railroads should not 
be excluded some mention of several projects which are not 
only closely connected with the interests of the United States, 
but possess something of national importance. The first of 
these, in point of vastness of design, is the enterprise of 
building a railroad from the Mississippi river to the Pacific 
ocean. The routes proposed in this great work are almost From the 
as numerous as the persons who claim the merit of having sippitothe 
first suggested and brought forward the scheme of thus com- Pacific, 
pleting the chain of railroad connection between the Atlantic 
and Pacific coasts of the Union. Although the importance 
of such a work to the prosperity of the nation cannot be 
doubted, there is reason to suppose that many years will 
elapse before the resources of the country will be found 
sufficient for its accomplishment. No scientific survey of 
any route west of the frontier of Missouri has been made, 
but it is not probable that any could be found that would 
bring the line of travel between the Mississippi and the ocean 
within the limit of 1,600 miles. 

The natural obstacles to be overcome are the Rocky moun- obstacles, 
tains and the Sierra Nevada, the deserts between the Missouri 
and the former chain, and those of the great basin, the flying 



424 



Readings in American Hisfory 



Railroad 
rates. 



Increase 
in miles, 
1850 to 
1860. 



No trunk 
lines. 



sands, and the want of timber. Further explorations may 
lead to the discovery of means to overcome these difficul- 
ties. ... 

The rates of fare on our railroads are lower than on those 
of any country of which we have returns, affording the means 
of comparison. In New England, the average rate per mile 
is slightly over two cents; from New York to ^Yashington, 
it is three cents and a half per mile. From New York to 
Cincinnati, the railroad and steamboat fare together is less 
than two cents per mile. From New York to Albany, the 
price of passage is a fraction over one cent per mile, and the 
average rate upon all the New York railroads has been stated 
at two cents and one-fifth per mile. . . . 

The decade which terminated in 1860 was particularly 
distinguished by the progress of railroads in the United 
States. At its commencement the total extent in operation 
was 8,588.79 miles, costing $296,260,128; at its close 30,598.77 
miles, costing $1,134,452,909; the increase in mileage having 
been 22,004.08 miles, and in cost of construction $838,192,781. 

While the increase in mileage was nearly 300 per cent., 
and the amount invested still greater, the consequences that 
have resulted from these works have been augmented in 
vastly greater ratio. Up to the commencement of the dec- 
ade our railroads sustained only an unimportant relation to 
the internal commerce of the country. Nearly all the lines 
then in operation were local or isolated works, and neither 
in extent nor design had begun to be formed into that vast 
and connected system, which, like a web, now covers every 
portion of our wide domain, enabling each work to contribute 
to the traffic and value of all, and supplying means of loco- 
motion and a market, almost at his own door, for nearly 
every citizen of the United States. . . . 

Previous to 1850 by far the greater portion of railroads 
constructed were in the States bordering the Atlantic, and, 
as before remarked, were for the most part isolated lines, 
whose limited traffics were altogether local. Up to the date 
named, the internal connnerce of the country was conducted 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 425 



almost entirely through water lines, natural and artificial, 
and over ordinary highways. The period of the settlement 
of California marks really the commencement of the new 
era in the physical progress of the United States. The vast 
quantities of gold it produced imparted new life and activity 
to every portion of the Union, particularly the western States, 
the people of which, at the commencement of 1850, were 
thoroughly aroused as to the value and importance of rail- 
roads. Each presented great facilities for the construction 
of such works, which promised to be almost equally produc- 
tive. Enterprises were undertaken and speedily executed 
which have literally converted them into a net-work of lines, 
and secured their advantages to almost every farmer and 
producer. 

The progress of these works in the aggregate, year by year, 
will be seen by the tabular statements at the close of the 
report. The only important line opened in the west, pre- 
vious to 1850, was the one from Sandusky to Cincinnati, 
formed by the Mad River and Little Miami roads. But 
these pioneer works were rude, unsubstantial structures com- 
pared with the finished works of the present day, and were 
employed almost wholly in the transportation of passengers. 
Within the decade, in place of this one line, railroads ha^'e 
been constructed radiating from Lakes Erie and Michigan, 
striking the Mississippi at ten and the Ohio at eight different 
points, and serve as trunk lines between the two great hy- 
drographic systems of the west. These trunk lines are cut 
every few miles by cross lines, which, in the States east of 
the Mississippi, are sufficiently numerous to meet every pub- 
lic and private want, and to afford every needful encourage- 
ment to the development of the resources of this country. 

The southern States have been behind the northern in 
their public enterprises, though, at the date of the census, 
they were prosecuting them with great energy and vigor. 
The progress inland of the great trunk lines of the south 
has been already noted. The opening of the Mobile and 
Ohio, and of the Mississippi Central, whicli will soon take 



Discovery 
of gold in 
California. 



Sandusky 
to Cin- 
cinnati. 



Growth in 
a decade. 



Southern 

railroad 

building. 



426 Readings in American History 

place, will give completeness to the system of the south- 
western States, and leave little to be done to make it all that 
is wanted for that section of the country. 
Western West of the Mississippi less has been done, for the reason 

railroads, ^j^^^^ ^j^g settlements there are of a more recent date, and the 
people less able to provide the means for their construction 
than those of the older States. But even upon our western 
frontier extensive systems have been undertaken and very 
considerable progress made in their execution. 

A more interesting subject than the progress of our public 
works, would be their results, as shown in the increased 
commerce and wealth of the country. . . . 



84. The Lincoln-Douglas Debates, 1858 

The public career of Abraham Lincoln really began in the summer 
of 1858, when he met Stephen A. Douglas in joint debate in each of 
seven congressional districts of Illinois. The towns selected for 
these contests were Ottawa, Freeport, Jonesboro, Charleston, Gales- 
burg, Quincy, and Alton. 

Lincoln had been selected by the Republican party of Illinois as 
their candidate for United States Senator, for it had been shown 
that he was the one man in the State who was able to cope with 
Douglas in political discussion. The Republican Convention in- 
dorsed Lincoln on June 16, 1858, and on the evening of that day he 
accepted the candidacy in a speech which is recognized as one of 
the most important of his whole career. The opening sentences 
were as follows: 

" If we could first know where we are, and whither we are 
tending, we could better judge what to do now, and how to 
do it. We are now far into the fifth year since a policy was 
initiated with the avowed object and confident promise of 
putting an end to slavery agitation. Under the operation 
of that policy, that agitation has not only not ceased, but 
has constantly augmented. In my opinion, it will not cease 
until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. 'A house 
divided against itself can not stand.' I believe this govern- 
ment can not endure permanently half slave and half free. 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 427 

I do not expect the Union to be dissolved; I do not expect the 
house to fall; but I do expect it will cease to be divided. It 
will become all one thing, or all the other. Either the op- 
ponents of slavery will arrest the further spread of it, and 
place it where the public mind shall rest in the belief that it 
is in the course of ultimate extinction, or its advocates will 
push it forward till it shall become alike lawful in all the 
states, old as well as new, north as well as south." . . . 

In closing, he said : " Our cause must be entrusted to, and 
conducted by, its own undoubted friends — those whose hands 
are free, whose hearts are in the work, who do care for the 
result. Two years ago the Republicans of the nation mus- 
tered over thirteen hundred thousand strong. We did this 
under the single impulse of resistance to a common danger, 
with every external circumstance against us. Of strange 
discordant, and even hostile elements we gathered from the 
four winds, and formed and fought the battle through, under 
the constant hot fire of a disciplined, proud, and pampered 
enemy. Did we brave all then, to falter now — now, when 
that same enemy is wavering, dissevered and belligerent? 
The result is not doubtful. We shall not fail — if we stand 
firm, we shall not fail. Wise counsels may accelerate, or 
mistakes delay it; but sooner or later the victory is sure to 
come." . . . 

A writer for the New York Evening Post, who was present at the 
Ottawa debate and who listened for the first time to the two 
champions, gives his impression of them in the following manner: 

Two men presenting wider contrasts could hardly be found 
as the representatives of the two great parties. Everybody 
knows Douglas, a short, thick-set burly man, with large 
round head, heavy hair, dark complexion, and fierce bull- 
dog look. Strong in his own real power, and skilled by a 
thousand conflicts in all the strategy of a hand to hand or a 
general fight; . . . "Little Dug" ascended the platform and 
looked out impudently and carelessly on the immense throng 
which surged and struggled before him. A native of \'er- 



428 Readings in American History 

inont, reared on a soil where no sla\es stood, came to Illinois 
as a teacher, and from one post to another had risen to his 
present eminence. Forgetful of the ancestral hatred of 
slavery to which he M^as the heir, he had come to be a holder 
of slaves and to owe much of his fame to his continued sub- 
servience to southern influence. . . . 

In every relation of life, socially and to the State, Mr. 
Lincoln has been always the pure and honest man. In 
physique he is the opposite to Douglas. Built on the Ken- 
tucky type, he is very tall, slender and angular, awkward 
even, in gait and attitude. His face is sharp, large-featured 
and unprepossessing. His eyes are deep set, under heavy 
brows; his forehead is high and retreating, and his hair is 
dark and heavy. In repose, I must confess that " Long 
Abe's" appearance is not comely. But stir him up and the 
fire of his genius plays on every feature. His eye glows and 
sparkles, every lineament now so ill-formed, grows brilliant 
and expressive, and you have before you a man of rare power 
and of strong magnetic influence. He takes the people every 
time, and there is no getting away from his sturdy good sense, 
his unaffected sincerity, and the unceasing play of his good 
humor, which accompanies his close logic and smooths the 
way to conviction — Aug. 27, 1858. 

"?^ THE FREEPORT DEBATE, AUGUST 27, 1858 

(E. E. Sparks, Illinois Historical Collections, III, 148 passim.) 

Terms of Ladies and Gentlemen: On Saturday last, Judge Douglas 

debate. ,^^^ myself first met in public discussion. He spoke one 
hour, I an hour and a half, and he replied for half an hour. 
The order is now reversed. I am to speak an hour, he an hour 
and a half, and then I am to reply for half an hour. I pro- 
pose to devote myself during the first speech to the scope of 
what was brought within the range of his half hour speech 
at Ottawa. Of course there was brought within the scope 
of that hull'-liour's speech something of his own opening 
speech. 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 429 

In the course of that opening argument Judge Douglas 
proposed to me seven distinct interrogatories. In my speech 
of an hour and a half, I attended to some other parts of his 
speech, and incidentally, as I thought, answered one of the 
interrogatories then. I then distinctly intimated to him 
that I would answer the rest of his interrogatories. He made 
no intimation at the time of the proposition, nor did he in 
his reply allude at all to that suggestion of mine. I do him 
no injustice in saying that he occupied at least half of his 
reply in dealing with me as though I had refused to answer 
his interrogatories. I now propose that I will answer any 
of the interrogatories upon condition that he will answer 
questions from me not exceeding the same number. Igive 
him an opportunity to respond. The Judge remains silent. 
I now say that I will answer his interrogatories, whether he 
answers mine or not; [Applause.] and after that I have done 
so, I shall propound mine to him [x\pplause.] . . . 

Now, my friends, it will be perceived, upon an examina- Lincoln 
tion of these questions and answers, that so far I have only """^ ^ ^^ ' 
answered that I was not pledged to this, that, or the other. 
The Judge has not framed his interrogatories to ask me any- 
thing more than this, and I have answered in strict accord- 
ance with the interrogatories, and have answered truly, that 
I am not jjledged at all upon any of the points to which I 
have answered. But I am not disposed to hang upon the 
exact form of his interrogatory. I am rather disposed to 
take up at least some of these questions, and state what I 
really think of them. 

As to the first one, in regard to the Fugitive-Slave law, I Fugitive- 
have never hesitated to say, and I do not now hesitate to '"" ^""^ ^^' 
suy, that I think, under the Constitution of the United States, 
the people of the Southern States- are entitled to a Congres- 
sional Fugitive-Slave law. Having said that, I have had 
nothing to say in regard to the existing Fugitive-Slave law, 
further than that I think it should have been framed so as 
to l)e free from some of the objections that pertain to it, 
without lessenini; its efficiencv. And inasmuch as we are 



430 



Readings in American History 



Admission 
of slave 
States. 



Slavery 
in District 
of Co- 
lumbia. 



Abolition 
of slave- 
trade 



not now in an agitation in regard to an alteration or modifica- 
tion of that law, I would not be the man to introduce it as a 
new subject of agitation upon the general question of slavery. 

In regard to the other question, of whether I am pledged 
to the admission of any more Slave States into the Union, 
I state to you very frankly that I would be exceedingly sorry 
to be put in a position of having to pass upon that question. 
I should be exceedingly glad to know that there would never 
be another Slave State admitted into the Union; [Applause] 
but I must add that if slavery shall be kept out of the Terri- 
tories during the Territorial existence of any one Territory, 
and then the people shall, having a fair chance and a clear 
field, when they come to adopt the constitution, do such an 
extraordinary thing as to adopt a slave constitution, unin- 
fluenced by the actual presence of the institution among 
them, I see no alternative, if we own the country, but to 
admit them into the Union. [Applause.] . . . 

The fourth one is in regard to the abolition of slavery in 
the District of Columbia. In relation to that, I have my 
mind very distinctly made up. I should be exceedingly glad 
to see slavery abolished in the District of Columbia. [Cries 
of "Good! Good!"] I believe that Congress possesses the 
constitutional power to abolish it. Yet as a member of 
Congress, I should not, with my present views, be in favor 
of endeavoring to abolish slavery in the District of Columbia, 
unless it would be upon these conditions: First, that the 
abolition should be gradual; Second, that it should be on a 
vote of the majority of qualified voters in the District ; and 
third, that compensation should be made to unwilling owners. 
With these tliree conditions, I confess I would be exceedingly 
glad to see Congress abolish slavery in the District of Co- 
lumbia, and, in the language of Henry Clay, " sweep from our 
capital that foul blot upon our nation." [Loud Applause.] 

In regard to the fifth interrogatory, I must say here, that 
as to the question of the abolition of the slave-trade between 
the different States, I can truly answer as I have, that I am 
pledged to nothing about it. It is a subject to which I have 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 431 

not given that mature consideration that would make me 
feel authorized to state a position so as to hold myself en- 
tirely bound by it. In other words, that question has never 
been prominently enough before me to induce me to investi- 
gate whether we really have the constitutional power to do 
it. I could investigate it if I had sufficient time to bring 
myself to a conclusion upon that subject, but I have not 
done so, and I say so frankly to you here, and to Judge 
Douglas. I must say, however, that if I should be of opinion 
that Congress does possess the constitutional power to abolish 
the slave-trade among the different States, I should still not 
be in favor of the exercise of that power unless upon some 
conservative principle as I conceive it akin to what I have 
said in relation to the abolition of slavery in the District of 
Columbia. , . . 

I now proceed to propound to the Judge the interrogato- 
ries, so far as I have framed them. I will bring forward a 
new installment when I get them ready. [Laughter.] I will 
bring them forward now, only reaching to number four. 

The first one is: — 

Question 1. If the people of Kansas shall, by means en- 
tirely unobjectionable in all other respects, adopt a State 
Constitution, and ask admission into the Union under it, 
before they have the requisite number of inhabitants accord- 
ing to the English bill, — some ninety-three thousand, — will 
you vote to admit them? [Applause.] 

Q. 2. Can the people of a United States Territory, in a 
lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of the United 
States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to the formation 
of a State constitution? [Renewed applause.] 

Q. 3. If the Supreme Court of the United States shall 
decree that States cannot exclude slavery from their limits, 
are you in favor of acquiescing in, adopting, and following 
such decision as a rule of political action? [Loud applause.] 

Q. 4. Are you in favor of acquiring additional territory, 
in disregard of how such acquisition may affect the nation 
on the slavery question? [Cries of "Good, Good I"] .... 



432 



Headings in American History 



People of 
a Terri- 
tory ex- 
clude 
slavery? 



MR. DOUGLAS S REPLY 

Ladies and Gentlemen: The silence with which you have 
listened to Mr. Lincoln during his hour is creditable to this 
vast audience, composed of men of various political parties. 
Nothing is more honorable to any large mass of people as- 
sembled for the purpose of a fair discussion than that kind 
and respectful attention that is yielded, not only to your 
political friends, but to those who are opposed to you in 
politics. . . . 

The next question propounded to me by ]\Ir. Lincoln is. 
Can the people of a Territory in any lawful way, against 
the wishes of any citizen of the United States, exclude slavery 
from their limits prior to the formation of a State constitu- 
tion? I answer emphaticall,y, as Mr. Lincoln has heard me 
answer a hundred times from every stump in Illinois, that 
in my opinion the people of a Territory can, by lawful means, 
exclude slavery from their limits prior to the formation of a 
State constitution. [Enthusiastic applause.] IVIr. Lincoln 
knew that I had answered that question over and over again. 
He heard me argue the Nebraska bill on that principle all 
over the State in 1854, in 1S55 and in 1856, and he has no 
excuse for pretending to be in doubt as to my position on 
that question. It matters not what way the Supreme Court 
may hereafter decide as to the abstract question whether 
slavery may or may not go into a Territory under the Con- 
stitution, the people have the lawful means to introduce it 
or exclude it as they please, for the reason that slavery can- 
not exist a day or an hour anywhere imless it is supported 
by local police regulations. [" Right, right ! "] Those police 
regulations can only be established by the local legislature; 
and if the people are opposed to slavery, they will elect 
representatives to that body who will by unfriendly legis- 
lation effectually prevent the introduction of it into their 
midst. If, on the contrary, they are for it, their legislation 
will favor its extension. Hence, no matter what the decision 



Slavery E.ricnfiion and Sectional Feeling 433 



of the Supreme Court may be on that abstract question, 
still the right of the people to make a Sla\e Territory or a 
Free Territory is perfect and complete under the Nebraska 
bill. I hope Mr. Lincoln deems my answer satisfactory on 
that point. . . . 

The tiiird question which Mr. Lincoln presented is, If the 
Supreme Court of the United States shall decide that a State 
of this Union cannot exclude slavery from its own limits 
will I submit to it? I am amazed that Lincoln should ask 
such a question. ["A schoolboy knows better."] Yes, a 
schoolboy does know better. Mr. Lincoln's object is to 
cast an imputation upon the Supreme Court. He knows 
that there never was but one man in America, claiming any 
flegree of intelligence or decency, who ever for a moment 
pretended such a thing. It is true that the Washington 
Union, in an article published on the 17th of last December, 
did put forth that doctrine, and I denounced the article on 
the floor of the Senate, in a speech which Mr. Lincoln now 
pretends was against the President. The Union had claimed 
that slavery had a right to go into the free States, and that 
any provision in the Constitution or laws of the Free States 
to the contrary were null and void. I denounced it in the 
Senate, as I said before, and I was the first man who did. 
Lincoln's friends, Trumbull, and Seward, and Hale, and 
Wilson, and the whole Black Republican side of the Senate, 
were silent. They left it to me to denounce it. [Cheers.] . . . 

The fourth question of Mr. Lincoln is. Are you in favor 
of acquiring additional territory, in disregard as to how such 
acquisition may affect the Union on the Slavery question? 
This question is very ingeniously and cunningly put. 

[Deacon Bross here spoke "sotto voce," — the reporter 
understanding him to say " Now we've got him."] 

The Black Republican creed lays it down expressly that 
under no circumstances shall we acquire any more territory, 
unless slavery is first prohibited in the country. I ask Mr. 
Lincoln whether he is in favor of that proposition. Are you 
[addressing Mr. Lincoln] opposed to the acquisition of any 



Supreme 
Court and 
exclasion 
of slavery 
from a 
State. 



Acquire 

additional 

territory? 



4;M Readings in American History 

more territory, under any circumstances, unless slavery is 
prohibited in it? That he does not like to answer. When I 
ask him whether he stands up to that article in the platform 
of his party, he turns, Yankee-fashion, and without answering 
it, asks nie whether I am in favor of acquiring territory with- 
out regard to how it may aflect the Union on the Slavery 
question. ["Good."] I answer that whenever it becomes 
necessary, in our growth and progress to acquire more terri- 
tory, that I am in favor of it, without reference to the ques- 
tion of slavery; and when we have acquired it, I will leave the 
people free to do as they please, either to make it slave or 
free territory as they prefer. . . . 



LINCOLN S SPEECH AT JONESBORO 

The second interrogatory that I propounded to him was 
this : — 

"Question 2. Can the people of a United States Terri- 
tory, in any lawful way, against the wish of any citizen of 
the United States, exclude slavery from its limits prior to 
the formation of a State Constitution?" 

To this Judge Douglas answered that they can lawfully 
exclude slavery from the Territory prior to the formation of 
the Constitution. He goes on to tell us how it can be done. 
As I understand him, he holds that it can be done by the 
Territorial Legislature refusing to make any enactments for 
the protection of slavery in the Territory, and especially by 
adopting unfriendly legislation to it. For the sake of clear- 
ness, I state it again: That they can exclude slavery from 
the Territory, 1st, by withholding what he assumes to be an 
indispensable to it in the way of legislation; and, 2nd, by un- 
friendly legislation. If I rightly understand him, I wish to 
ask your attention for a while to his position. 

In the first place the Supreme Court of the United States 
decided that any Congressional prohibition of slavery in 
the Territories is unconstitutional; that they have reached 
this proposition as a conclusion from their former proposi- 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 135 

tion, that the Constitution of the United States expressly 
recognizes property in sla\es, and from that other Constitu- 
tional provision, that no person shall be deprived of property 
without due process of law. Hence they reach the conclu- 
sion that as the Constitution of the United States expressly 
recognizes property in slaves, and prohibits any person from 
being deprived of property without due process of law to 
pass an Act of Congress by which a man who owned a slave 
on one side of a line would be deprived of him if he took him 
on the other side, is depriving him of that property without 
due process of law. That I understand to be the decision 
of the Supreme Court. I understand also that Judge Douglas 
adheres most firmly to that decision; and the difficulty is, 
how is it possible for any power to exclude slavery from the 
Territory, unless in violation of that decision? That is the 
difficulty. 

In the Senate of the United States in 1856, Judge Trum- 
bull, in a speech substantially, if not directly, put the same 
interrogatory to Judge Douglas, as to whether the people 
of a Territory had the lawful power to exclude slavery prior 
to the formation of a constitution. Judge Douglas then an- 
swered at considerable length and his answer will be found 
in the " Congressional Globe," under date of June 9th, 1856. 
The Judge said that whether the people could exclude slavery 
prior to the formation of a constitution or not was a question 
to be decided by the Siqu'eme Court. He put that proposition, 
as will be seen by the "Congressional Globe," in variety of 
forms, all running to the same thing in substance, — that it 
was a question for the Supreme Court. I maintain that 
when he says, after the Supreme Court has decided the ques- 
tion, that the people may yet exclude slavery by any means 
whatever, he does virtually say that it is not a question for 
the Supreme Court. [Applause.] 

He shifts his ground. I appeal to you whether he did not 
say it was a question for the Supreme Court? Has not the 
Supreme Court decided that question? When he now says 
the people may exclude slavery, does he not make it a ques- 



436 Readings in American History 

tion for the people? Does he not virtually shift his ground, 
and say that it is not a question for the court, hut for the 
people? This is a veiy simple proposition, — a very plain 
and naked one. It seems to me that there is no difHculty 
in deciding it. In a variety of ways he said that it was a 
question for the Supreme Court. He did not stop then to 
tell us that whatever the Supreme Court decides, the people 
can by withholding necessary "police regulations ' keep 
slavery out. He did not make any such answer. I submit 
to you now whether the new state of the case has not induced 
the Judge to sheer away from his original ground. [Ap- 
plause.] Would not this be the impression of every fair 
minded man? . . . 



85. The Nomination of Abraham Lincoln 

The second Republican National Convention met in Chicago, 
May 16, 1860. On the third ballot Abraham Lincoln was nomi- 
nated for President. Isaac H. Bromley, who wrote the following 
account of the convention, was at the time a correspondent foi' a 
New York newspaper. — (Scribner's Magazine, XIV, 646-656.) 

Meeting The second Republican National Convention met at 

ventk)a°'^" Chicago on May 16, 1860. Not since the foundation of the 
Government had the political outlook been so threatening 
to the stability of the Union and the continuance of peace. 
Congress had been five months in session, two of which had 
been entirely occupied with the speakership contest, and the 
rest in wordy wrangling that frequently came perilously near 
to blows on the floor of the House in open session. . . . 

With the Democratic Party hopelessly disrupted, and the 
whole trend of affairs in the Free States toward a union of 
all the elements of opposition to that party, it was not strange 
that the delegates came together at Chicago in high spirits 
and with a confident feeling that the nominee of the Con- 
vention would be the next President of the United States. 
Vo one looked farther than that. The fixed purpose of the 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 437 



meeting. 



The first 
session. 



party was to bring Kansas into the Union as a Free State, 
and set definite bounds to the institution of slavery. . . . 

The Convention met in an enormous building with a ca- Place of 
paeity capable of holding ten or twelve thousand people; 
a barn-like structure, made of rough timber, decorated so 
completely with flags, banners, bunting, etc., that when 
filled it seemed a gorgeous pavilion aflame with color and all 
aflutter with pennants and streamers. It was the first of 
its kind, and itself something of a wonder. . . . 

It was indeed a grand spectacle. When Governor E. D. 
Morgan, of New York, as Chairman of the Republican 
National Committee, called the Convention to order, he 
faced the largest audience that had ever assembled within 
doors in the country. . . . 

... By a piece of good luck the acoustic properties of 
the wigwam were excellent, so that the speakers could be 
heard without difficulty in every part of it. . . . 

The New York delegation was for Seward to a man. And 
for him absolutely, unreservedly — first, last, and all the time, 
without any second choice. To them Mr. Seward seemed 
the central figure of the whole movement, its prophet, priest 
and oracle. Not even Henry Clay before him, or Grant or 
Blaine after had such a following of blind idolaters. They 
had worked themselves up into the belief that the new polit- 
ical party would collapse if it did not take the highest ground 
of principle, and choose as its leader the foremost anti- 
slavery statesman in the country; the man who had de- 
scribed the relations between freedom and slavery as an 
"irrepressible conflict" between two opposing and enduring 
forces, and whom they fondly called "Old Irrepressible." 
Without him it would be the play without Hamlet. They 
were vociferous, aggressive, boisterous, and they had brought 
with them from Ne',\- York outsiders and workers and brass 
bands who filled the streets with processions and the nights 
with music to such an extent that the Seward enthusiasm 
seemed tumultuous and all-absorbing. . . . 

Since the Democratic breaking up, the conviction had 



William 
H. Seward 
a favorite. 



438 



Readings in American History 



Lack of 
harmony' 
in the 
conven- 
tion. 



Outside 
the con- 
vention 
hall. 



deepened that this party had the Presidency within reach. 
The nearness of it made everybody uncommonly fearful of 
losing it. The consequence was that this body was disposed 
to be conservative to the point of timidity. All shades of 
opinion on the slavery question, from the out-and-out 
Abolitionists like Giddings, to men like Eli Thayer who 
accepted the popular sovereignty theory, had to be harmon- 
ized. There was danger in touching at all the tariff question, 
and yet it could not be ignored entirely; and most difficult 
of all was to bring together the representatives of the Amer- 
ican or Know Nothing party and the great mass of foreign- 
born voters, chiefly Germans, who constituted the strength 
and the dependence of the party in the Western States. To 
steer through such dangers and besetments called for skilful 
pilotage. . . . 

The resolutions went through by acclamation about six 
o'clock in the afternoon, and amid whirlwinds of noise that 
exceeded all previous demonstrations, the Convention ad- 
journed till next day. There was not much sleep for anybody 
that night. The streets were alive all night with processions 
and brass bands, while the delegation head-quarters at the 
hotels had oratory on tap and were in constant eruption. 
The real business was going on, however, without noise or 
demonstration. It was the commerce between Illinois, 
Indiana, and Pennsylvania that night that made Mr. Lin- 
coln President, and put Caleb B. Smith and Simon Cam- 
eron in his Cabinet. . . . The deal made by David Davis 
and N. B. Judd with Pennsylvania and Ohio was not sus- 
pected by the Seward men, who were in high feather over the 
admission of delegates from Virginia and Texas; and at the 
opening of the third day's session more confident than ever. 
Impressed by their confidence Greeley had given up the fight, 
and wired the Tribune that Seward's nomination was cer- 
tain. And that indeed was the belief of everybody except 
a few persons who had been up all night at the Tremont 
House,* icithont an\' brass bands. 



* Located at the corner of Dearborn and Lake Streets. 
Departments of Northwestern University. 



Now occupied by 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 439 

The candidates were put in nomination, and at the men- Nomina- 
tion of each name applause more or less loud and prolonged *^°°®- 
broke forth. The great demonstrations were at the names 
of Seward and Lincoln. When either of these was mentioned 
the audience seemed to grow wild. One might have supposed 
that the choice between them was to be governed by volume 
of sound. In these lung contests the Lincoln men had the 
advantage of his being the local favorite, and having, conse- 
quently a more numerous claque. But the Seward men were 
good howlers, and the match was not far from equal. The 
formal placing of candidates in nomination being over, the 
roll-call began with Maine, proceeding in geographical in- 
stead of alphabetical order. The vote of the New England 
States was anxiously watched. The Seward men counted 
on some solid delegations and a majority of the total vote. 
Maine started off with 10 for Seward and 6 for Lincoln: 
New Hampshire gave Seward but 1 and Lincoln 7; Vermont 
gave her 10 votes to Collamer. With each vote the coun- 
tenances of the Seward men fell and the hopes of the Lincoln 
men rose. The votes of the three States had been simply 
turned in by the several chairmen in an undemonstrative 
matter-of-fact way. Massachusetts was called. John A. 
Andrew was chairman of the delegation. In his view Massa- 
chusetts was something more than a numeral in a mathe- 
matical process, or a platoon in a procession. He understood 
dramatic effect too well to stand up and simply hand in a 
few figures. He did not address the Secretary. He stood 
on his chair, said, "Mr. President," and waited till Ashmun 
said, "The gentleman from Massachusetts." The Old Bay 
State having got wheeling distance and distinct audience, 
he said, "Mr. President, the Commonwealth of Massachu- 
setts casts 21 votes for William H. Seward and 4 votes for 
Abraham Lincoln." The cheers that followed were more 
for the dignified presence and impressive manner of the man 
than for either of the candidates, and all joined in it. The 
vote was slightly disappointing to the Seward men, who 
hoped for the solid delegation. Then came Connecticut 



-140 Readings in American History 

and Rhode Island, and the reporters' pencils swiftly made 
the New England footing, which showed that out of 81 votes 
Seward had but 32, while Lincoln had 19, and all others 30. 

The Secretary called New York. Only one delegation 
had cast a solid vote, and Vermont's vote for Collamer was 
known to be merely complimentary. Everybody knew what 
New York's vote would be; but Evarts had no less appre- 
ciation of dramatic effect than John A. Andrew. He too 
stood on his chair, and looking beyond the Secretary said: 
"Mr. President." "The gentleman from New York," said 
Ashmun. There was stillness, but not absolute silence. 
"Mr. President," said Evarts, slowly, "I wait until the Con- 
vention is in order." A few strokes of the gavel and there 
was a hush undisturbed by a whisper. Every eye was fixed 
on Evarts, every head bent toward him. Again Ashmun: 
"The gentleman from New York has the floor." Then 
Evarts, with slow, deliberate utterance that gave each word 
the weight of a great argument: "Mr. President, the State 
of New York casts 70 votes for William Henry Seward." 
Straight went the audience off its feet and for several minutes 
there was wild applause. 

Then New Jersey gave a solid ^•ote for William L. Dayton ; 
Pennsylvania, hers, nearly solid for Cameron, and presently 
Virginia astonished the Seward men by giving 14 votes for 
Lincoln and only S for Seward. Ohio gave Chase three- 
quarters of her \'ote, and then Indiana gave the Seward men 
another surprise by a solid vote for Lincoln. Missouri was 
solid for Bates. The first glimmer of comfort the Seward 
men had had for some time came when Michigan gave him her 
12 votes. Their cheering was drowncfl when the next State 
was called, and Illinois added 22 to the Lincoln column. 
As the list tailed off, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota, and 
Kansas voted solidly for Seward, and the hopes of his friends 
revived. The count showed 465 votes, with Seward and 
Lincoln leading; the former having 173M, the latter 102, 
and the rest divided between ten candidates. . . . 

Everybody watched with intensest interest the changes 



ISIacery Extension and Sectional Feeling 



441 



on the second ballot, ^'e^mont led oflF with the transfer of 
her solid vote to Lincoln, to the great disappointment of the 
New Yorkers, and when the six New England States had 
been called, Lincoln was found to be leading with 36 to 
Seward's 33. Presently Pennsylvania carried out the ar- 
rangement made the night before, and put 48 votes to the 
Lincoln column. A gain of a vote or two here and there 
helped swell the total, so that in the summing up Lincoln 
was only 3J^ votes behind Seward who lacked 49 of a 
majority. 

While the third ballot was in progress there was a great 
deal of hurrying back and forth, swift consultations, pulling 
and hauling, and hubbub generally. But the demonstra- 
tions were not so noisy, loud, and prolonged as in the earlier 
stages of the proceedings. The excitement was too intense, 
the nervous strain too severe, to relie\e itself in noise. The 
break in New England continued, Lincoln having now 42 
to Seward's 3L There was no change of blocks of votes on 
this call, but a gradual crumbling away of support from the 
scattering candidates and a draAving toward Lincoln. Sew- 
ard was ahead once, when New York with 70 blotted out 
the Lincoln lead of 11 in New lilngland, but the next mo- 
ment Pennsylvania plumped 52 for Lincoln and presently 
the Western States pushed him far to the front, a sure 
winner. . . . 

The last call — the District of Columbia — had hardly been 
answered, when from half-a-dozen seats came the report, 
" Lincoln 231 J^; he lacks a vote and a half." Ohio had still 
a reserve of 15 votes that had been given to Chase, and 
Missouri 18 that had gone for Bates. In an instant there 
was a scramble to get in on the winner. The stuttering 
Cartter was ahead. As soon as he could be heard, he changed 
four votes from Chase to Lincoln. Everybody was on his 
feet and everybody apparently shrieking a change of votes, 
none of which, except Ohio's, was ever recorded. Every- 
body? no, not everybody. In the New York seats everybody 
sat dumb. Michigan made no stir, and only a part of the 



The 

second 

ballot. 



The third 
ballot. 



Nomina- 
tion of 
Lincoln. 



the con 
vcntion. 



442 Readings in American History 

Massachusetts delegation contributed to the din — oases of 
silence in a Sahara of sound. 
Scene in I thought I had heard noise and seen wild excitement be- 

fore, but this was the grand climacteric. On the platform - 
near me Henry S. Lane was executing a war-dance with some 
other dignified delegate as partner; the Indiana men gen- 
erally were smashing hats and hugging each other; the 
Illinois men did everything except stand on their heads; 
hands were flying wildly in the air, everybody's mouth was 
open, and bedlam seemed loose. The din of it was terrific. 
Seen from the stage it seemed to be twenty thousand mouths 
in full blast, as if that startling figure of La Guerre on the 
Arc de Triomphe had been kindled into life and repeated 
twenty thousandfold poured out upon this arena. I have 
seen conventions carried off their feet before and since, but 
never anything like that. I was so overcome with the spec- 
tacle that the contagion of it took no hold. I could not 
shout, I simply caught my breath and stared at it. It seemed 
as if it never would stop. Over the desk of the reading clerk 
was a skylight, and men stationed there had reported to the 
packed masses in the street from the edge of the roof the 
results of the balloting. On the roof there was also a loaded 
cannon ready to convey the news when the nomination was 
reached. The four Ohio changes had hardly been recorded 
when it belched its fire. The cry, "Lincoln is nominated," 
went over the roof into the streets and the streets went wild. 
So, when the inside tempest lulled an instant, the roar from 
the outside came in like an echo and the storm was renewed; 
the waves of noise rolled back and forth till from sheer weari- 
ness the shouters sank into their seats. 

There was something almost painful in the stillness which 
fell, when the chairman at this point recalled order with a 
stroke of the gavel, and looking to the New York delegation, 
where all eyes followed him, said: "The gentleman from 
New York." In a few well chosen words listened to with 
profoundest attention, Mr. Evarts, on behalf of the New 
York delegation, accepted the result and moved that the 



Slavery Extension and Sectional Feeling 443 

nomination be made unanimous. It was seconded by John 
A. Andrew, Carl Schurz, and Austin Blair, of Michigan, in 
speeches that contained more sadness than exultation, and 
was passed, to be followed by another tumultuous outbreak. 
So Abraham Lincoln was nominated, and Christendom, 
without knowing it, had entered behind the curtain of a 
new epoch and into the dawning of a new day. 



CHAPTER XXIII 
SECESSION AND CIVIL WAR 

86. Alexander H. Stephens and Secession, 1860 

As the time for the Presidential election of 1860 approached, the 
declaration became wide-spread throughout the Southern States that 
secession would follow in case Abraham Lincoln was elected. Alex- 
ander H. Stephens was opposed to such action, at the time, for the 
cause specified, and set forth his views in a speech, given extempo- 
raneously, before the Georgia Legislature, November 14, 1860. It 
was published in the leading newspapers of the country, and was 
interpreted at the North to mean that he would stand by the Union. 
When the State Convention of Georgia passed the ordinance of 
secession, January 19, 1861, Stephens regarded it as expressing the 
will of the people which it was his duty to obey. — (Alexander H. 
Stephens, A Constitutional View of the Late War between the 
States, II, 279 passim. Philadelphia, 1868.) 

Reasons Fellow Citizens:—! appear before you to-night, at the 

drei^" request of members of the LegisUiture and others, to speak 
of matters of the deepest interest that can possibly concern 
us all of an earthly character. There is nothing — no ques- 
tion or subject connected with this life^that concerns a 
free people so intimately as that of the government under 
which they live. We are now, indeed, surrounded by evils. 
Never, since I entered upon the public stage, has the coun- 
try been so environed with difficulties and dangers that 
threatened the public peace, and the \ery existence of 
society, as now. I do not now appear before you at my 
own instance. It is not to gratify a desire of my own that 
I am here. Had I consulted my own ease and pleasure I 
should not be before you; but believing that it is the duty 
of every good citizen to give his counsels and views whenever 

444 



Secession mid Civil War 445 

the country is in danger, as to the best poHcy to be pursued, 
T am here. For these reasons, and these only, do I bespeak 
a cahn, patient and attentive hearing. 

My object is not to stir up strife, but to allay it; not to 
appeal to your passions, but to your reason. . . . 

Let us, therefore, reason together. It is not my purpose 
to say aught to wound the feelings of any individual who 
may be present; and if, in the ardency with which I shall ex- 
press my opinions, I shall say anything which may be deemed 
too strong, let it be set down to the zeal with which I advocate 
my own convictions. There is with me no intention to irri- 
tate or offend. 

The first question that presents itself is, shall the people The south 
of the South secede from the Union in consequence of the Lincoln's 
election of Mr. Lincoln to the Presidency of the United election. 
States? My countrymen, I tell you frankly, candidly and 
earnestly, that I do not think that they ought. In my judg- 
ment the election of no man, constitutionally chosen to that 
high office, is sufficient cause for any State to separate from 
the Union. It ought to stand by and aid still in maintaining 
the Constitution and the country. To make a point of 
resistance to the government, to withdraw from it because 
a man has been constitutionally elected, puts us in the wrong. 
We are pledged to maintain the Constitution. Many of us 
have sworn to support it. Can we, therefore, for the mere 
election of a man to the Presidency, and that too in accord- 
ance with the prescribed forms of the Constitution, make a 
point of resistance to the government without becoming the 
breakers of that sacred instrument ourselves — withdraw our- 
selves from it? Would we not be in the wrong? Whatever 
fate is to befall this country, let it never be laid to the charge 
of the people of the South, and especially to the people of 
Georgia, that we were untrue to our national engagements. 
Let the fault and the wrong rest upon others. If all our 
hopes are to be blasted, if the Republic is to go down, let 
us be found to the last moment standing on the deck, with 
the Constitution of the L"^nited States waving over our heads. 



44G Readings in American History 

Let the fanatics of the North break the Constitution, if such 
is their fell purpose. Let the responsibility be upon them. 
I shall speak presently more of their acts; but let not the 
South — let us not be the ones to commit the aggression. We 
went into the election with this people. The result was 
different from what we wished; but the election has been 
constitutionally held. Were we to make a point of resistance 
to the Government and go out of the Union on that account, 
the record would be made up hereafter against us. 

But it is said Mr. Lincoln's policy and principles are against 
the Constitution, and that if he carries them out it will be 
destructive of our rights. Let us not anticipate a threatened 
evil. If he violates the Constitution, then will come our 
time to act. Do not let us break it because, forsooth, he 
may. If he does, that is the time for us to act. I think it 
would be injudicious and unwise to do this sooner. I do 
not anticipate that Mr. Lincoln will do anything, to jeopard 
our safety or security, whatever may be his spirit to do 
it; for he is bound by the Constitutional checks which are 
thrown around him, which at this time render him powerless 
to do any great mischief. This shows the wisdom of our 
system. The President of the United States is no Emperor, 
no Dictator — he is clothed with no absolute power. He 
can do nothing, unless he is backed by power in Congress. 
The House of Representatives is largely in a majority against 
him. . . . 

In the Senate he will also be powerless. There will be a 
majority of four against him. . . . 

. . . Why, then, I say, should we disrupt the ties of this 
Union when his hands are tied, when he can do nothing 
against us? . . . 

My honorable friend who addressed you last night (Mr. 
Toombs), and to whom I listened with the profoundest at- 
tention, asks if we would submit to Black Republican rule? 
I say to you and to him, as a Georgian, I never would submit 
to any Black Republican aggression upon our constitutional 
rights. 



Secession and Civil War 



447 



National 
govern- 
ment not 
perfect. 



I will never consent myself, as much as I admire this 
Union for the glories of the past, or the blessings of the pres- 
ent — as much as it has done for the people of all these States 
— as much as it has done for civilization — as much as the 
hopes of this world hang upon it, I would never submit to 
aggression upon my rights to maintain it longer; and if they 
cannot be maintained in the Union, standing on the Georgia 
platform, where I have stood from the time of its adoption, 
I would be in favor of disrupting every tie which binds the 
States together. . . . 

My countrymen, I am not of those who believe this Union 
has been a curse up to this time. . . . Nor will I undertake 
to say that this government of our fathers is perfect. There 
is nothing perfect in this world of a human origin^nothing 
connected with human nature, from man himself to any of 
his works. . . . 

And it is so in our government. 

But that this government of our fathers, with all its de- 
fects, comes nearer the objects of all good governments than 
any other on the face of the earth is my settled conviction. 
Contrast it now with any on the face of the earth. . . . 

The next evil which my friend complained of, was the The tariffi 
tariff. Well, let us look at that for a moment. About the 
time I commenced noticing public matters, this question was 
agitating the country almost as fearfully as the slave question 
now is. In 1832, when I was in college, South Carolina was 
ready to nullify or secede from the Union on this account. 
And what have we seen? The tariff no longer distracts the 
public counsels. Reason has triumphed! The present tariff 
was voted for by Massachusetts and South Carolina. The 
lion and the lamb lay down together — every man in the 
Senate and House from Massachusetts and South Carolina, 
I think, voted for it, as did my honorable friend himself. 
And if it be true, to use the figure of speech of my honorable 
friend, that every man in the North that works in iron, and 
brass and wood, has his muscle strengthened by the pro- 
tection of the government, that stimulant was given by his 



448 



Readings in American Hidory 



Southern 
pros- 
perity. 



vote, and I believe every other Southern man. So we oujjht 
not to complain of that. 

Mr. Toombs. That tariff lessened the duties. 

Mr. Stephens. Yes, and Massachusetts, with unanimity 
voted with the South to lessen them, and they were made 
just as low as Southern men asked them to be, and that 
is the rate they are now at. If reason and argument, 
with experience, produced such changes in the .sentiments 
of Massachusetts from 1832 to 1857, on the subject of the 
tariff, may not like changes be effected there by the same 
means — reason and argument, and appeals to patriotism on 
the present vexed question? And who can say that by 1875 
or 1890 Massachusetts may not vote with South Carolina and 
Georgia upon all those questions that now distract the coim- 
try and threaten its peace and existence. . . . 

. . . Have we not at the South, as well as the North, 
grown great, prosperous, and happy under its operations? 
Has any part of the world ever shown such rapid progress 
in the development of wealth, and all the material resources 
of national power and greatness, as the Southern States have 
under the General Government, notwithstanding all its de- 
fects? 

Mr. Toombs. In spite of it! 

Mr. Stephens. My honorable friend says we have, in spite 
of the General Government; and without it I suppose he thinks 
we might have done as well, or better than we have done. 
This grand result is in spite of the Government! That may 
be, and it may not be; but the great fact that we have grown 
great and powerful under the Government, as it exists — there 
is no conjecture or speculation about that; it stands out 
bold, high, and prominent, like your stone mountain, to 
which the gentleman alluded. . . . 

It may be that we are all that we are in " spite of the Gen- 
eral Government," but it may be that without it we should' 
have been far different fi-om what we are now. It is true, 
there is no equal part of the earth with natural resources 
superior, perhaps, to ours. That portion of this country 



Secession and Civil War 449 

Iviiown as the Southern States, stretching from the Chesa- 
peake to the Rio Grande, is fully equal to the picture drawn 
by the honorable and eloquent Senator, last night, in all 
natural capacities. But how many ages, centuries, passed 
before these capacities were developed to reach this advanced 
stage of civilization? . . . 

It was only under our Institutions as they are, that they 
were developed. Their development is the result of the 
enterprise of our people under operations of the Government 
and Institutions under which we have lived. Even our 
people, without these, never would have done it. The or- 
ganization of society has much to do with the development 
of the natural resources of any country or any land. . . . 
Look at Greece! There is the same fertile soil, the same 
blue sky, the same inlets and harbors, the same Aegean, 
the same Olympus — there is the same land where Homer 
sang, where Pericles spoke — it is, in nature, the same old 
Greece; but it is "living Greece no more!" 

Descendants of the same people inhabit the country; yet 
what is the reason of this mighty difference? In the midst 
of present degradation we seethe glorious fragments of ancient 
works of art— temples with ornaments and inscriptions that 
excite wonder and admiration — the remains of a once high 
order of civilization, which have outlived the language they 
spoke — upon them all, Ichabod is written — their glory has 
departed. Why is this so? I answer, their institutions have 
been destroyed. . . . The same may be said of Italy. Where 
is Rome, once the mistress of the world? . . . Why have not 
the people of that Hea\en-fH\'ored clime the spirit that ani- 
mated their fathers? . . . It is the destruction of her insti- 
tutions that has caused it; and my countrymen, — if we 
shall, in an evil hour, rashly pull down and destroy those 
Institutions, which the patriotic hand of our Fathers labored 
so long and so hard to build up, and which have done so 
much for us, and for the world; who can venture the pre- 
diction that similar results will not ensue? Let us avoid 
them if we can. I trust the spirit is amongst us that will 



450 Readings in American History 

enable us to do it. Let us not rashly try the experiment of 
change, of pulling down and destroying; for, as in Greece 
and Italy, and the South American Republics, and in every 
other place, whenever our liberty is once lost, it may never 
be restored to us again. . . . 

I know that there are friends — whose patriotism I do not 
intend to question — who think this Union a curse — and that 
we would be better off without it, I do not so think, if we 
can bring about a correction of those evils which threaten 
— and I am not without hope that this may yet be done. 
This appeal to go out, with all the provisions for good that 
accompany it, I look upon it as a great and I fear a fatal 
temptation. 

When I look around and see our prosperity in everything, 
agriculture, commerce, art, science, and every department 
of education, physical and mental, as well as moral advance- 
ment, and our colleges, I think, in the' face of such an ex- 
hibition, if we can, without the loss of power, or any essential 
right or interest, remain in the Union, it is our duty to our- 
selves and to posterity to — let us not too readily yield to 
this temptation — do so. Our first parents, the great pro- 
genitors of the human race, were not without a like tempta- 
tion when in the garden of Eden. They were led to believe 
that their condition would be bettered — that their eyes 
would be opened — . . . 
Loss in I look upon this country with our Institutions as the Eden 

leaving ^f ^|^g world, the Paradise of the Universe. It may be that 
out of it we may become greater and more prosperous, but 
I am candid and sincere in telling you that I fear if we 
yield to passion, and without sufficient cause shall take that 
step, that instead of becoming greater or more peaceful, 
prosperous and happy — instead of becoming Gods, we will 
become demons, and at no distant day commence cutting 
one another's throats. This is my apprehension. Let us, 
therefore, whatever we do, meet these difficulties, great as 
they are, like wise and sensible men, and consider them in 
the light of all the consequences which may attend our action. 



Secession and Civil War 451 

Let us see first, clearly, where the path of duty leads, and then 
we may not fear to tread therein. . . . 

Now upon another point, and that the most difficult, and 
deserving your most serious consideration, I will speak. 
That is, the course which this State should pursue toward 
those Northern States which, by their legislative acts, have 
attempted to nullify the Fugitive Slave Law. . . . 

Northern States, on entering into the Federal compact. The 
pledged themselves to surrender such fugitives; and it is gjaveiaw 
in disregard of their obligations that they have passed laws 
which even tend to hinder or obstruct the fulfilment of that 
obligation. They have violated their plighted faith. What 
ought we to do in view of this? That is the question. What 
is to be done? By the law of nations, you would have a 
right to demand the carrying out of this article of agreement, 
and I do not see that it should be otherwise with respect 
to the States of this Union; and in case it be not done, 
we would by these principles, have the right to commit 
acts of reprisal on these faithless Governments, and seize 
upon their property, or that of their citizens, wherever 
found. The States of this Union stand upon the same foot- 
ing with foreign nations in this respect. . . . 

Let us, therefore, not act hastily in this matter. Let your 
Committee on the State of the Republic make out a bill of 
grievances; let it be sent by the Governor to those faithless 
States; and if reason and argument shall be tried in vain — 
if all shall fail to induce them to return to their Constitu- 
tional obligations, I would be for retaliatory measures, such 
as the Governor has suggested to you. This mode of re- 
sistance in the Union is in our power. 

Now, then, my recommendation to you would be this: 
in view of all these questions of difficulty, let a convention 
of the people of Georgia be called, to which they may be all 
referred. Let the sovereignty of the people speak. ... I 
have no hesitancy in saying that the Legislature is not the 
proper body to sever our Federal relations, if that necessity 
should arise. . . . 



452 



Headings in American History 



The peo- 
ple to 
decide. 



Confer- 
ence with 
other 
States. 



You must refer this question to the people, and you must 
wait to hear from the men at the cross-roads and even tlie 
groceries; for the people in this country, whether at the 
cross-roads or the groceries, whether in cottages or palaces, 
are all equal, and they are the sovereigns of this country. 
Sovereignty is not in the Legislature. We the People are 
Sovereign ! I am one of them, and have a right to be heard ; 
and so has every other citizen of the State. . . . Our Con- 
stitutions State and Federal came from the people. They 
made both and they alone can rightfully unmake either. . . . 

Should Georgia determine to go out of the Union, I speak 
for one, though my views might not agree with them, what- 
ever the result may be, I shall bow to the will of her people. 
Their cause is my cause, and their destiny is my destiny; 
and I trust this will be the ultimate course of all. The 
greatest curse that can befall a free people, is civil war. . . . 

Before making reprisals, we should exhaust every means of 
bringing about a peaceful settlement of the controversy. . . . 

At least, let these offending and derelict States know what 
your grievances are, and if they refuse, as I said, to give us 
our rights under the Constitution, I should be willing, as a 
last resort, to sever the ties of our Union with them. 

My own opinion is, that if this course be pursued, and they 
are informed of the consequences of refusal, these States 
will recede, will repeal their nullifying acts; but if they 
should not; then let the consequences be with them, and the 
responsibility of the consequences rest upon them. . . . 

I am for exhausting all that patriotism demands, before 
taking the last step. I would invite, therefore. South Caro- 
lina to a conference. I would ask the same of all the other 
Southern States, so that if the evil has got beyond our con- 
trol, which God in his mercy grant may not be the case, we 
may not be divided among ourselves; but if possible, secure 
the united co-operation of all the Southern States, and then, 
in the face of the civilized world, we may justify our action, 
and, with the wrong all on the other side, we can appeal to 
the God of Battles, if it comes to that, to aid us in our cause. 



Secession and Civil War 



453 



But do nothing, in which any portion of our people, may 
charge you with rasli or hasty action. It is certainly a matter 
of great importance, to tear this Government asunder. You 
were not sent here for that purpose. I would wish the whole 
South to be united, if this is to be done; and I believe if 
we pursue the policy which I have indicated, this can be 
effected. . . . 

My position, then, in conclusion is for the maintenance 
of the honor, the rights, the equality, the security, and the 
glory of my native State in the Union, if possible; but if 
these cannot be maintained in the Union, then I am for their 
maintenance, at all hazards, out of it. Next to the honor 
and glory of Georgia, the land of my birth, I hold the honor 
and glory of our common country. . . . 



87. Scenes at the Opening of the War 

The following letters bj' a correspondent to the London Times 
give a good picture of the North and of the South at the beginning 
of the war. 

New York, April 19, 1861. 

The great civil war that everybody has regarded as an Opening 
improbability is now fairly inaugurated, — blood has been °^'^^^- 
shed, sectional animosities have been aroused, — Virginia has 
seceded, or will do so soon in the van of the Border Slave 
States, — there is every probability that Kentucky, Tennes- 
see, Arkansas, and North Carolina will follow, — Maryland 
is trembling poised between her allegiance to the stars and 
stripes and her sympathy for slavery, and everything now 
promises a war between the consolidated Slave States and 
the American Government — a war for the extension of African 
Slavery and the annihilation of Constitutional Government 
except as subservient to that institution. . . . 

Within the week Fort Sumter has been evacuated, its Fort 
garrison transferred to New York, its very existence forgotten S"™*^®^- 
in the rapidity of the march of events. A little contest in 



454 



Readings in American History 



Lincoln 
calls for 
troops. 



Intense 
excite- 
ment in 
New York. 



the harbor of Charleston has grown into a great civil war. 
The eflFect of the news in New York of the attack upon the 
fort is as unexpected as it is overwhelming. I confess that 
I was not prepared for it; for, knowing the demoralization 
of the party leaders, — political demoralization, I mean, not 
personal or moral — I did not suppose that the popular heart 
was beating so strong for the national flag and the national 
Government. So it is, however; and the result has taken 
everybody by surprise. 

The proclamation of Mr. Lincoln, announcing a state of 
war, and calling upon the remaining States to contribute 
their quotas towards the defence of the flag and the recovery 
of the forts, has aroused the national pride and touched the 
national heart in every Northern State, while with an equal 
rapidity, it has carried the Southern Border States towards 
the rebels. From the moment the blow was struck all party 
differences vanished here and so strong was the public indig- 
nation against the rebels that it became dangerous for a 
man to avow Southern sympathies. The feeling had begun 
to show itself before my last letter. But on the following 
day the manifestation was much more enthusiastic. Then 
the first troops from the East arrived on their way to Wash- 
ington, and it was also known that the 7th regiment, the 
pride and the pet of New York, whose ranks are made up 
of the sons of her first merchants, leading lawyers, and best 
statesmen, was to be the first called from this town to the 
defence of the capital. It was a bright sunshiny April day, 
with one of those clear crystal American atmospheres that 
every one who has ever been in America will remember. 
The town had broken out into an eruption of the star- 
spangled banner. It floated from every hotel, from every 
bank, from every insurance office. It was draped in festoons 
across the streets, the shipping in the harbor was alive with 
the gaiety of its colors, it was carried in miniature on the 
headstall or saddle of every omnibus horse and drayhorse 
in the crowded Broadway, and its colors were seen on the 
rosettes of the private carriages. Without seeing it, it is. 



Secession and Civil War 455- 

I fear, impossible to conceive how the loyalty of this people 
to their flag had suddenly and spontaneously gushed out. . . . 

To-day we have had a scene of excitement and enthusiasm 
surpassing anything I have ever seen even in excitable New 
York. Even the wonderful demonstration in honor of the 
Prince of Wales was nothing to it. The 7th regiment was 
to leave for Washington at 6. It was announced that they 
would leave their armory at about 4 and march to the ferry 
through Broadway. 

About noon we received despatches from Baltimore that a 
fight was going on there — that the Massachusetts troops that 
had left here the day before had been attacked in their passage 
through that town, and were fighting their way to the Wash- 
ington railway station. You can conceive how such news 
struck into the hearts of fathers, mothers, sisters, brothers, 
and friends, about taking leave of such near relatives, to 
meet, perhaps, the same or a more desperate resistance. 
You can conceive, too, how the public heart would beat. 
I had taken a room at the Metropolitan Hotel from which 
to see the troops, that being the highest point on Broadway 
and commanding the streets for the whole two miles through 
which they were to march. Long before they appeared every 
omnibus and carriage was turned out, and the handsome 
street itself blocked full with a living, surging mass of men, 
unlike the demonstration for the Prince of Wales, when a 
large part of the crowd were women. To-day the mothers 
and sisters were in the houses along the line of the march, 
every window of which was filled, and even the housetops 
covered. Near me there was a lady, a widow, whose only 
son was in the ranks as a private. Though the tear could not 
be repressed, she cheerfully sent him out with a " God bless 
you! " Few houses that had not one or more near relative or 
friend like this. Before the regiment appeared I thought it 
would be impossible for them to force their way through 
the crowd; but as they came up it made way for them, with 
vociferous, enthusiastic cheers, crowding, however, and press- 
ing into the ranks as the men came along to a lively quick 



450 



Readings in American History 



step, marching with an elastic spring that would remind you 
more of Paris than of London. As they came opposite the 
hotel where I was a scene ensued that beggars all descrip- 
tion. Major Anderson* stepped upon the balcony over the 
magnificent marble shop of Messrs. Ball and Black, and un- 
covered as the men marched by. Such enthusiasm I have 
never seen. As each platoon came up it broke ranks for a 
moment, waving hats and even muskets, cheering the sol- 
dier who has become for the moment the representative of 
loyalty and fidelity; then, closing up, passed on. . . . 

Nor is this only a momentary excitement of a fickle popu- 
lace, that finds no response in the educated classes. I have 
but a few minutes left before the mail closes — enough, how- 
ever, to call attention to the meeting of the merchants of 
New York held yesterday, while the people were bidding 
their sons farewell on their way to the war. The meeting 
was enthusiastic and unanimous in the determination to 
support the Government at all hazards. It embraced promi- 
nently every shade of political opinion — men who have hith- 
erto sympathized with the South. When they offer money, 
when they urge upon the Government warlike measures, 
when they call for blockades, you may depend upon it that 
they are in earnest. They felt that this contest has been 
forced upon them by the rebels and they will meet the issue 
like men. . . . 



All classes 
or people 
enthusi- 
astic for 
war. 



New York, April 24. 
I now resume the history of this remarkable northern 
revolution in popular sentiment — or, rather let me do it 
justice by calling it this outbreak of repressed feeling. It is 
quite impossible in any language within my power to convey 
an adequate idea of this great national uprising in defence 
of the country and its institutions, to rescue the land from 
anarchy at home and aggression from abroad, to prevent 
its disintegration and decay. Macaulay has tried to paint 
the national arming of England when the signal was given 
* Former commander at Fort Sumter. 



Secession and Cuil War 457 

that the Armada was approaching; but, spirited as it is, 
the words are cold and dead compared with the fervour 
which animates all classes in the North to maintain the in- 
tegrity of the country. And do not entertain the idea that 
this spirit may be checked by reverses or chilled by want of 
immediate success; believe me, it is not so. If the reverses 
come at Washington which there is reason to fear may come, 
the spirit that is now aroused will be only quickened and 
deepened by them; and that nothing can resist this spirit 
in the end, that it must be as triumphant as it is just, that 
Maryland, Virginia and whatever other State opposes itself 
to the Government will be inevitably overcome and order 
restored, no one here doubts. 

I left off with the evening of Friday the 20th, when we 
had just received the news of the attack upon the Massa- 
chusetts troops by the Baltimore mob. It is only three ' 
days since then, and yet we seem to have moved generations. 
New York, which but a week ago was a quiet commercial 
town has become a great camp, where everybody is full of 
military ardour and enthusiasm. Business is entirely sus- Business 
pended, past differences are healed, — all are now ready for ^^^P^'^'i®'!- 
the defence of the Union. . . . 

The West, too, is moving actively, but with what results 
we are not yet able to say, all attention here being engrossed 
upon the threatened attack upon the capital, and the excit- 
ing scenes in the city of New York. . . . Early in the morn- 
ing a Massachusetts regiment arrived, and was hurried on 
towards Philadelphia amid the cheers of the excited crowd. 
None seemed disposed to attend to any business except his 
country's. The ensigns that the day before waved from the 
fiagstaffs of the principal buildings seemed in the night to 
have blossomed out into thousands of smaller star spangled 
banners, hanging from the windows and doors of almost every 
house and shop in the town. Nearly every man wore a 
Union badge of the red, white, and blue of the flag upon his 
breast. Most of the ladies as well wore cravats or badges 
of the same loyal colors, While the shops and the count- 



458 



Readings in American History 



Attitude 

of 

churches. 



ing rooms were deserted, the corners of the streets and the 
neighborhood of the newspaper offices were crowded with 
people, anxious for the latest news from the South, for there 
were rumors, which were confirmed later in the day, that 
the railway bridges between here and Baltimore were burned 
and communication with the capital cut off. . . . 

Sunday morning opened as beautiful, soft, balmy an April 
day as the sun ever shone upon, with the marching of a 
Massachusetts regiment down the Fifth Avenue while the 
good citizens were on their way to church. . . . The scenes 
in the churches are also described as animated and touching. 
The ministers incited their congregation to vigour in the 
prosecution of a righteous war for the defence of their coun- 
try and the perpetuation of its institutions. In some churches 
the pulpit was draped with the national flag, and in others 
the "Star-spangled Banner" was played upon the organ, the 
congregation rising and standing as it was done. 



Work of 

the 
women. 



New York, April 27. 
Nor are the civilians, and especially the women, less busy. 
Under the direction of some of the leading surgeons of New 
York the medical and surgical department, which has been 
sadly neglected with the troops that have already left, and 
the hospital department, are being rapidly systematized. 
The organizations for local charity connected with the various 
churches have also taken up the matter vigorously, preparing 
clothes for the troops, and, what is equally important, band- 
ages, lint, medicines, and other things connected with the 
hospital department. The ladies daily meet in the vestries 
of the several churches and gi\'e their whole time up to this 
patriotic work. . . . All feel that it is a war for national 
existence, and are ready to sacrifice everything rather than 
have the stars and stripes blotted out. 



Charleston, S. C. April 21. 
Scenes in \^^ |j^g present moment Charleston is like a place in the 

ton. neighbourhood of a camp where military and volunteer tai- 



Secession and Civil War 459 

lors are at work trying experiments in uniforms, and send- 
ing in their animated models for inspection. 

There is an endless variety — often of ugliness — in dress 
and equipment and nomenclature among these companies. 
The head-dress is generally, however, a smart cap like the 
French kepi; the tunic is of different cuts, colors, facings, 
and materials, — green with gray and yellow, gray with orange 
and black and white, blue with white and yellow facings, 
roan, brown, burnt sienna, and olive, — jackets, frocks, tunics, 
blouses, cloth, linen, tweed, flannel. The officers are gen- 
erally in blue frocks and brass buttons, with red sashes, the 
rank being indicated by gold lace parallelograms on the 
shoulder straps, which are like those in use in the Russian 
army. The arms of the men seem tolerably well kept and 
in good order. Many, however, still shoulder "White Bess" 
— the old smooth-bore musket with unbrowned barrel. 

Montgomery, May 8. 

I am on difficult ground, the land is on fire, the earth is Scenes at 
shaking with the tramp of armed men, and the very air is ^^^^,g^ 
hot with passion. 

It is impossible to know what is going on in the North, 
and it is almost the same to learn what is doing in the South 
out of eyeshot. The telegraphic communications are now 
broken, so are the mail routes. Events hurry on with tre- 
mendous activity, and even the lightning lags behind them. 
The people of the South at last are aware that the " Yankees " 
are preparing to support the Government of the United States, 
and that the secession can only be maintained by victory in 
the field. . . . The fact is there are even in the compact and 
united South men of moderate and men of extreme views, 
and the general tone of the whole is regulated by the pre- 
ponderance of one or other at the moment. . . . But the 
Confederates are preparing for the conflict, and when they 
have organized their forces, they will make, I am satisfied, a 
very resolute advance all along the line. They are at pres- 
ent strong enough, they suppose, in their domestic resources. 



4G0 



Readings in AuLcrican History 



Southern 
determina- 
tion. 



Hopes of 
South- 
erners. 



and in the difficulties presented to the advance of a hostile 
force by the nature of the country, to bid defiance to invasion, 
or, at all events, to inflict a very severe chastisement on the 
invaders, and their excited manner of speech so acts upon 
their minds that they begin to think they can defy, not 
merely the United States, but the world. Thus it is that 
they declare they never can be conquered, that they will 
die to a man, woman and child first, and that if 50,000 or 
any number of thousands of Black Republicans get 100 miles 
into Virginia, not one man of them shall ever get out alive. 
Behind all this talk, however, there is immense energy, 
great resolution, and fixed principles of action. . . . They 
firmly believe the war will not last a year, and that 1862 
will behold a victorious, compact slave-holding confederate 
Power of 15 States under a Strong Government, prepared to 
hold its own against the world, or that portion of it which 
may attack it. I now but repeat the sentiments and expec- 
tations of those around me. They believe in the irresistible 
power of cotton, in the natural alliance between manufac- 
turing England and France and the cotton-producing Slave 
States, in the force of their simple taritf, and in the interests 
which arise out of a system of free trade, which, however, by 
a rigorous legislation they will interdict to their neighbours 
in the Free States, and only open for the benefit of their 
foreign customers. Commercially, and politically and mili- 
tarily they have made up their minds, and never was there 
such confidence exhibited by any people in the future as they 
have, or pretend to have, in their destiny. . . . 

The Southerners are firmly convinced that they have 
"kept the North going" by the prices they have paid for 
the protected articles of their manufacture, and they hold 
out to Sheffield, to Manchester, to Leeds, to Wolverhampton, 
to Paris, to Lyons, to Bordeaux, to all the centres of English 
manufacturing life, as of French taste and luxury, the tempt- 
ing baits of new and eager and hungry markets. If their 
facts and statistics are accurate there can be no doubt of 
the justice of their deductions on many points; but they can 



Secession and Civil War 



461 



scarcely be correct in assuming that they will bring the United 
States to destruction by cutting off from Lowell the 600,000 
bales of cotton which she usually consinnes. One great fact, 
however, is unquestionable — the Government has in its hands 
the souls, the wealth, and the hearts of the people. They 
will give anything — money, labour, life itself, — to carry out 
their theories. "Sir," said an ex-governor of this State to 
me to-day, " Sooner than submit to the North we will all 
become subject to Great Britain again." The same gentle- 
man is one of many who have given to the Government a 
large portion of their cotton crop every year as a free-will 
offering. In this instance^his gift is one of 500 bales of cotton, 
or 5,000£ per annum, and the papers teem with accounts of 
similar "patriotism" and devotion. The ladies are making 
sand bags, cartridges, and uniforms, and, if possible, thej' 
are more fierce than the men. The time for mediation is 
past, if it ever were at hand or present at all, and it is scarcely 
possible now to prevent the processes of phlebotomization 
which are supposed to secure peace and repose. . . . The 
Rev. Gentleman prayed that the Almighty might be pleased 
to inflict on the arms of the United States such a defeat that 
it might be the example of signal punishment forever,— that 
the gallant young soldiers who were fighting for their country 
might not suffer from exposure to the weather or from the 
bullets of their enemies; and that the base mercenaries who 
were fighting on the other side might come to sure and swift 
destruction. . . . 



Sacrifice 
at the 
South. 



War in- 
evitable. 



88. The Battle of Gettysburg 



Frank Aretas Haskell, the writer of the following description of 
the battle of Gettysburg, was graduated from Dartmouth College, 
with distinguished honors, in the class of 185-1. That year he came 
to Madi.son, Wisconsin, where he began the practice of law. In 
June, 1861, he entered the Union army as first lieutenant in com- 
panj' "I" of the Sixth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry of the Iron 
Brigade.* He was adjutant of his regiment until April 14, 1862, 

* The Iron Brigade was originally composed of the Second, Sixth, and 
Seventh Wisconsin and the Nineteenth Indiana. The Twenty-fourth 



462 



Readings in American History 



when he was made aide-de-camp to General John Gibbon, who then 
took command of the Iron Brigade. While serving with this 
brigade, Lieutenant Haskell took part in the most important battles 
of the Army of the Potomac: viz., Second Bull Run, South Moun- 
tain, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg. 
In his report on the battle of Gettysburg, General Gibbon wrote: 
"There was a young man on my staff who had been in every battle 
with me and who did more than any other one man to repulse 
Pickett's assault at Gettysburg and he did the part of a general 
there." 

On February 9, 1864, he was promoted to the office of colonel 
of the Thirty-sixth Wisconsin. June 3 he led his command in the 
charge at Cold Harbor. General Hancock, writing of this event, 
said: "At Cold Harbor the Colonel of the Thirty-sixth Wisconsin, 
as gallant a soldier as ever lived, fell dead on the field." 

The account of the battle of Gettysburg, from which the extracts 
are taken, was sent by Lieutenant Haskell to his brother shortly 
after that battle and was not intended for publication. — (Frank 
Aretas Haskell, The Battle of Gettysburg. Wisconsin History 
Commission: reprints, No. 1 (1908), 66 pastiim.) 



Meeting 
of General 
Meade 
and his 
ofHcers. 



After evening came on and, from reports received, all was 
known to be going satisfactorily upon the right, General 
Meade summoned his corps commanders to his headquarters 
for consultation.* A consultation is held upon matters of 
vast moment to the country, and that poor little farmhouse 
is honored with more distinguished guests than it ever had 
before, or than it will ever have again, probably. 

Do you expect to see a degree of ceremony, and scA'cre 
military aspect, characterize this meeting, in accordance with 
strict military rules, and commensurate with the moment of 
the matters of their deliberation? Name it "Major General 
Meade, Commander of the Army of the Potomac, with his 
Corps Generals, holding a Council of War, upon the field of 
Gettysburg," and it would sound pretty well, — and that was 
what it was; and you might make a picture of it and hang it 
up by the side of " Napoleon and his Marshals," and " Wash- 
ington and his Generals," maybe, at some future time. But 

Micliigan was added to it in 1862. The heaviest loss of life by brigades 
in the Union army fell to this brigade. 
* July 2. 



Secession and Civil War 463 

for tlie artist to draw his picture from, I will tell how 
this council appeared. Meade, Sedgwick, Slocum, Howard, 
Hancock, Sykes, Newton, Pleasanton — commander of the 
cavalry — and Gibbon, were the Generals present. Meade is 
a tall spare man, with full beard, which with his hair, orig- 
inally brown, is quite thickly sprinkled with gray — has a 
Romanish face, very large nose, and a white, large forehead, 
prominent and wide over the eyes, which are full and large, 
and quick in their movements, and he wears spectacles. 
His fibres are all of the long and sinewy kind. His habitual 
personal appearance is quite careless, and it would be rather 
difficult to make him look well dressed. ... I suppose 
Howard is about thirty-five and Meade about forty-five 
years of age; the rest are between these ages, but not many 
under forty. As they come to the council now, there is the 
appearance of fatigue about them, which is not customary, 
but is only due to the hard labors of the past few days. 
They all wear clothes of dark blue, some have top boots and 
some not, and except the two-starred straps upon the shoul- 
ders of all save Gibbon, who has but one star, there was 
scarcely a piece of regulation uniform about them all. They 
wore their swords of various patterns, but no sashes, the army 
hat, but with the crown pinched into all sorts of shapes and 
the rim slouched down and shorn of all its ornaments but 
the gilt band — except Sykes who wore a blue cap, and Pleas- 
anton with his straw hat with broad black band. Then the 
mean little room where they met, — its only furniture con- 
sisted of a large, wide bed in one corner, a small pine table 
in the center, upon which was a wooden pail of water, with 
a tin cup for drinking, and a candle, stuck to the table by 
putting the end in tallow melted down from the wick, and 
five or six straight-backed rush-bottomed chairs. The Gen- 
erals came in — some sat, some kept walking or standing, 
two lounged upon the bed, some were constantly smoking 
cigars. And thus disposed, they deliberated whether the 
army should fall back from its present position to one in 
the rear which it was said was stronger, should attack the 



404 Readings in American History 

enemy on the morrow, wherever he could be found, or should 
stand there upon the horse-shoe crest, still on the defensive, 
and await the further movements of the enemy. 

The latter proposition was unanimously agreed to. . . , 
After some two hours the council dissolved, and the officers 
went their several ways. . . . 
July 3. What sound was that? * There was no mistaking it. 

The distinct sharp sound of one of the enemy's guns, square 
over to the front, caused us to open our eyes and turn them 
in that direction, when we saw directly above the crest the 
smoke of the bursting shell and heard its noise. In an in- 
stant, before a word was spoken, as if that were the signal 
gun for general work, loud, startling, booming, the report of 
gun after gun in rapid succession smote our ears and their 
shells plunged down and exploded all around us. We sprang 
to our feet. In briefest time the whole Rebel line to the 
West was pouring out its thunder and its iron upon our 
devoted crest. The wildest confusion for a few moments 
obtained sway among us. The shells came bursting all 
about. The servants ran terror-stricken for dear life and 
disappeared. The horses, hitched to the trees or held by the 
slack hands of orderlies, neighed out in fright and broke 
away and plunged riderless through the fields. The Gen- 
eral at the first had snatched his sword, and started on foot 
for the front. . . . How the long streams of fire spout from 
the guns, how the rifled shells hiss, how the smoke deepens 
and rolls. But where is the infantry? Has it vanished in 
smoke? Is this a nightmare or a juggler's trick? All too 
real. The men of the infantry have seized their arms, and 
behind their works, behind every rock, in every ditch, wherever 
there is any shelter, they hug the ground, silent, quiet, un- 
terrified, little harmed. The enemy's guns now in action 
are in position at their front of the woods along the second 
ridge that I have before mentioned and towards their right, 
behind a small crest in the open field, where we saw the flags 
this morning. Their line is some two miles long, concave 
* Oae o'clock r. m. 



Secession and Civil War 465 

on the side towards us, and their range is from one thousand 
to eighteen hundred yards. A hundred and twenty-five 
Rebel guns, we estimate, are now active, firing twenty-four 
pound, twenty, tweh e and ten-pound projectiles, solid shot 
and shells, spherical, conical, spiral. The enemy's fire is 
chiefly concentrated upon the position of the Second Corps. 
From the Cemetery to Round Top, with over a hundred guns, 
and to all parts of the enemy's line, our batteries reply, of 
twenty and ten-pound Parrotts, ten-pound rifled ordnance, 
and twelve-pound Napoleons, using projectiles as various in 
shape and name as those of the enemy. ... All was going 
on satisfactorily. We had nothing to do, therefore, but to 
be observers of the grand spectacle of battle. . . . Who can 
describe such a conflict as is raging around us? To say that 
it was like a summer storm, with the crash of thunder, the 
glare of lightning, the shrieking of the wind, and the clatter 
of hailstones would be weak. The thunder and lightning 
of these two hundred and fifty guns and their shells, whose 
smoke darkens the sky, are incessant, all pervading, in the 
air above our heads, on the ground at our feet, remote, near, 
deafening, ear-piercing, astounding; and these hailstones 
are massy iron, charged with exploding fire. And there is 
little of human interest in a storm; it is an absorbing ele- 
ment of this. You may see flame and smoke, and hurrying 
men, and human passion at a great conflagration; but they 
are all . earthly and nothing more. These guns are great 
infuriate demons, not of the earth, whose mouths blaze with 
smoky tongues of living fire, and whose murky breath, 
sulphur-laden, rolls around them and along the ground, the 
smoke of Hades. These grimy men, rushing, shouting, their 
souls in frenzy, plying the dusky globes and the igniting 
spark, are in their league, and but their willing ministers. 
We thought that at the Second Bull Run, at the Antietam 
and at Fredericksburg on the 11th of December, we had 
heard heavy cannonading; they were but holiday salutes 
compared with this. Besides the great ceaseless roar of the 
guns, which was but the background of the others, a million 



466 Readings in American History 

various minor sounds engaged the ear. The projectiles 
shriek long and sharp. They hiss, they scream, they growl, 
they sputter; all sounds of life and rage; and each has its 
different note, and all are discordant. Was ever such a 
chorus of sound before? We note the effect of the enemies' 
fire among the batteries and along the crest. We see the 
solid shot strike axle, or pole, or wheel, and the tough iron 
and heart of oak snap and fly like straws. The great oaks 
there by Woodruff's guns heave down their massy branches 
with a crash, as if the lightning smote them. The shells 
swoop down among the battery horses standing there apart. 
. . . And these shot and shells have no respect for men either. 
We see the poor fellows hobbling back from the crest, or 
unable to do so, pale and weak, lying on the ground with the 
mangled stump of an arm or leg, dripping their life-blood 
away; or with a cheek torn open, or a shoulder mashed. 
And many, alas! hear not the roar as they stretch upon the 
ground with upturned faces and open eyes, though a shell 
should burst at their very ears. We sav/ them but a moment 
since there among the flame, with brawny arms and muscles 
of iron wielding the rammer and pushing home the cannon's 
plethoric load. ... 

. . . Only a few yards off a shell exploded over an open 
limber box in Cushing's battery, and at the same instant, 
another shell over a neighboring box. In both the boxes 
the ammunition blew up with an explosion that shook the 
ground, throwing fire and splinters and shells far into the 
air and all around, and destroying several men. We watched 
the shells bursting in the air, as they came hissing in all 
directions. . . . We saw the missiles tear and plow the 
ground. All in the rear of the crest for a thousand yards, 
as well as among the batteries, was the field of their blind 
fury. . . . The percussion shells would strike, and thunder, 
and scatter the earth with their whistling fragments; the 
Whitworth bolts would pound or ricochet, and bowl far away 
sputtering, with the sound of a mass of hot iron plunged in 
water; and the great solid shot would smite the unresisting 



Secession and Civil War 467 

ground with a sounding "thud," . . . Such were some of 
the sights and sounds of this great battle of iron missiles. 
... An hour has droned its flight since first the war began. 
There is no sign of weariness or abatement on either side. 
So long it seemed, that the din and crashing around began to 
appear the normal condition of nature there, and fighting 
man's element. The General proposed to go among the men 
and over to the front of the batteries, so at about two o'clock 
he and I started. We went along the lines of the infantry 
as they lay there flat upon the earth, a little to the front of 
the batteries. They were suffering little, and were quiet 
and cool, ... To the question asked the men, "What do 
you think of this?" the replies would be, "O, this is bully," 
"We are getting to like it," "O, we don't mind this." And 
so they lay under the heaviest cannonade that ever shook 
the continent, and among them a thousand more jokes than 
heads were cracked. . . . 

Our infantry was still unshaken, and in all the cannonade 
suffered very little. The batteries had been handled much 
more severely, . . . Guns had been dismounted. A great 
many caissons, limbers and carriages had been destroyed, 
and usually from ten to twenty-five men to each battery 
had been struck, at least along our part of the crest. Alto- 
gether the fire of the enemy had injured us much, both in 
the modes that I have stated, and also by exhausting our 
ammunition and fouling our guns, so as to render our batteries 
unfit for further immediate use. The scenes that met our 
eyes on all hands among the batteries were fearful. All 
things must end, and the great cannonade was no exception 
to the general law of earth. In the number of guns active 
at one time, and in the duration and rapidity of their fire, 
this artillery engagement, up to this time, must stand alone 
and pre-eminent in this war. . . . Two hundred and fifty 
guns, at least, rapidly fired for two mortal hours. . . . 

At three o'clock almost precisely the last shot hummed, 
and bounded and fell, and the cannonade was over. The 
purpose of General Lee in all this fire of his guns — we know 



468 Rearlingft in Amprirnii Ilifttory 

it now, we did not at the time so well — was to disable our 
artillery and break up our infantry upon the position of the 
Second Corps, so as to render them less an impefliment to 
the sweep of his own brigades and divisions o\er our crest 
and through our lines. . . . The artillery fight over, men 
began to breathe more freely, and to ask, What next, I 
wonder? The battery men were among their guns, some 
leaning to rest and wipe the sweat from their sooty faces, 
some were handling ammunition boxes and replenishing 
those that were empty. Some batteries from the artillery 
reserve were moving up to take the places of the disabled 
ones; the smoke was clearing from the crests. There was a 
pause between acts, with the curtain down, soon to rise upon 
the great final act, and catastrophe of Gettysburg. . . . 

. . . "General, they say the enemy's infantry is advanc- 
ing." We sprang into our saddles, a score of bounds brought 
us upon the all-seeing crest. To say that men grew pale 
and held their breath at what we and they there saw would 
not be true. Might not six thousand men be brave and with- 
out shade of fear, and yet, before a hostile eighteen thousand, 
armed, and not five minutes' march away, turn ashy white? 
None on that crest now need be told that the enemy is ad- 
vancing. Every eye could see his legions, an overwhelming 
resistless tide of an ocean of armed men sweeping upon us! 
Regiment after regiment and brigade after brigade move 
from the woods and rapidly take their places in the lines 
forming the assault. Pickett's proud division, with some 
additional troops, hold their right; Pettigrew's (Worth's) 
their left. . . . More than half a mile their front extends; 
more than a thousand yards the dull gray masses deploy, 
man touching man, rank pressing rank, and line supporting 
line. The red flags wave, their horsemen gallop up and down; 
the arms of eighteen thousand men, barrel and bayonet, 
gleam in the sun, a sloping forest of flashing steel. Right 
on the}' move, as with one soul, in perfect order, without 
impediment of ditch, or wall or stream, over ridge and slope, 
through orchard and meadow, and cornfield, magnificent, 



Secession and Civil War 469 

grim, irresistible. All was orderly and still upon our crest; 
no noise and no confusion. . . . The click of the locks as 
each man raised the hammer to feel with his fingers that the 
cap was on the nipple; the sharp jar as a musket touched a 
stone upon the wall when thrust in aiming over it, and the 
clicking of the iron axles as the guns were rolled up by harwl 
a little further to the front, were quite all the sounds that 
could be heard. Cap-boxes were slid around to the front 
of the body; cartridge boxes opened, officers opened their 
pistol-holsters. Such preparations, little more was needed. . . . 
All our available guns are now active, and from the fire 
of shells, as the range grows shorter and shorter, they change 
to shrapnel, and from shrapnel to canister; but in spite of 
shells, and shrapnel and canister, without wavering or halt, 
the hardy lines of the enemy continue to move on. The 
Rebel guns make no reply to ours, and no charging shout 
rings out to-day, as is the Rebel wont; but the courage of 
these silent men amid our shots seems not to need the stimulus 
of other noise. , . . And so across all that broad open 
ground they have come, nearer and nearer, nearly half the 
way, with our guns bellowing in their faces, until now a 
hundred yards, no more, divide our ready left from their ad- 
vancing right. The eager men there are impatient to begin. 
Let them. First Harrow's breastworks flame; then Hall's; 
then Webb's. As if our bullets were the fire coals that 
touched off their muskets, the enemy in front halts, and his 
countless level barrels blaze back upon us. The Second 
Division is struggling in battle. The rattling storm soon 
spreads to the right and the blue trefoils are vieing with the 
white. All along each hostile front, a thousand yards, with 
narrowest space between, the volleys blaze and roll; . . . 
When the Rebel infantry had opened fire our batteries soon 
became silent, and this without their fault, for they were 
foul by long previous use. They were the targets of the con- 
centrated Rebel bullets, and some of them had expended all 
their canister. But they were not silent before Rhorty was 
killed, Woodruff had fallen mortally wounded, and Cushing, 



470 Readings in American History 

firing almost his last canister, had dropped dead among his 
guns shot through the head by a bullet. The conflict is left 
to the infantry alone. . . . Webb's men are falling fast, and 
he is among them to direct and encourage; but, however 
well they may now do, with that walled enemy in front, 
with more than a dozen flags to Webb's three, it soon be- 
comes apparent that in not many minutes they will be 
overpowered, or that there will be none alive for the enemy 
to overpower. Webb has but three regiments, all small, 
the 69th, 71st, and 72d Pennsylvania — the lOGth Penn- 
sylvania, except two companies, is not here to-day — and he 
must have speedy assistance, or this crest will be lost. Oh, 
where is Gibbon? W'here is Hancock? — some general — 
anybody with power and the will to support that wasting, 
melting line? No general came and no succor! . . . Not a 
moment must be lost. Colonel Hall I found just in rear of 
his line, sword in hand, cool, vigilant, noting all that passed 
and directing the battle of his brigade, ..." How is it 
going?" Colonel Hall asked me, as I rode up. "Well, but 
Webb is hotly pressed and must have support, or he will be 
overpowered. "Can you assist him?" "Yes." "You can- 
not be too quick." "I will move my brigade at once." 
"Good." . . . The regiments marched by the right flank. 
Col. Hall superintended the movement in person. Col, 
Devereux coolly commanded the 19th Massachusetts. His 
major. Rice, had already been wounded and carried off. 
Lieut. Col. Macy, of the 20th Massachusetts, had just had 
his left hand shot off, and so Capt. Abbott gallantly led over 
this fine regiment. The 42d New York followed their excel- 
lent Colonel Mallon. Lieut. Col. Steele, 7th Michigan, had 
just been killed, and his regiment, and the handful of the 
59th New York followed their colors. ... I did not stop to 
see all this movement of Hall's, but from him I went at once 
further to the left, to the 1st brigade. General Harrow 1 
did not see, but his fighting men would answer my purpose 
as well. The 19th Maine, the 15th Massachusetts, the 32d 
New York and the shattered old thunderbolt, the 1st Minne- 



Secession and Civil JJ'ar 471 

sota, — poor Farrell was dying then upon the ground where 
he had fallen, — all the men that I could find I took over to 
the right at the double quick. . . . The men saw, and as 
tliey swept to their places by the side of Hall and opened 
fire, they roared, and this in a manner that said more plainly 
than words — for the deaf could have seen it in their faces 
and the blind could have heard it in their voices — the crest 
is safe! . . . By reason of the disorganization incidental in 
Webb's brigade to his men's having broken and fallen back, 
as mentioned, in the two other brigades to their rapid and 
difficult change of position under fire, and in all the division 
in part to severe and continuous battle, formation of com- 
panies and regiments in regular ranks is lost; but commands, 
companies, regiments and brigades are blended and intermixed 
— an irregular extended mass. . . . The twelve flags of the 
regiments wave defiantly at intervals along the front; at 
the stone wall, at unequal distances from ours of forty, fifty, 
or sixty yards, stream nearly double this number of the battle 
flags of the enemy. These changes accomplished on either 
side, and the concentration complete, although no cessation 
or abatement in the general din of conflict since the commence- 
ment had at any time been appreciable, now it was as if a 
new battle, deadlier, stormier than before, had sprung from 
the body of the old — . . . The jostling, swaying lines on 
either side boil, and roar, and dash their flamy spray, two 
hostile billows of a fiery ocean. . . . No threats or expostula- 
tion now, only example and encouragement. . . . Individu- 
ality is drowned in a sea of clamor, and timid men, breathing 
the breath of the multitude, are brave. . . . The men do 
not cheer or shout; they growl, and over that uneasy sea, 
heard with the roar of musketry, sweeps the muttered thun- 
der of a storm of growls. . . . My "Forward to the wall" 
is answered by the Rebel counter-command, "Steady, men!" 
and the wave swings back. Again it surges, and again it 
sinks. These men of Pennsylvania, on the soil of their own 
homesteads, the first and only to flee the wall, must be the 
first to storm it. . . . The color sergeant of the 72d Penn- 



172 llcddings ni America)} Ilistonj 

sylvania, ^n-asping the stniiii) oF the severed lance in hotli 
his hands, \\a\(>d the Hag ahove his head and rushed tf)\vards 
the wall. . . . The line springs — the crest of the solid ground 
with a great roar, heaves forward its maddened load, men, 
arms, smoke, fire, a fighting mass. It rolls to tlie wall — 
flash meets flash; the wall is crossed — a moment ensues of 
thrusts, yells, blows, shots, and undistinguishable conflict, 
followed by a shout universal that makes the welkin ring 
again, and the last and bloodiest fight of the great battle of 
Gettysburg is ended and won. . . . Near me, saddest sight 
of the many of such a field and not in keeping with all 
this noise, were mingled the thick dead of Maine and 
Minnesota, and Michigan and Massachusetts, and the Empire 
and Keystone States. . . . Where the long lines of the 
enemy's thousands so proudly advanced, see how thick the 
silent men of gray are scattered. . . . Four thousand, not 
wounded are prisoners of war. . . . Some yield submissively 
with good grace, some with grim, dogged aspect, showing 
that but for the other alternative they could not submit to 
this. . . . Small arms, more thousands than we can count, 
are in our hands, scattered over the field. And those defiant 
battle-flags, some inscribed with "First Manassas," the 
numerous battles of the Peninsula, "Second Manassas," 
"South Mountain," "Sharpsburg," (our Antietam), "Fred- 
ericksburg," "Chancellorsville," and many more names, our 
men have, and are showing about, . . . 

Such was really the closing scene of the grand drama of 
Gettysburg. 

GETTYSBURG FIFTY YEARS LATER 

From July 1 to July 4, 1913, there took place on the battle-field 
of Gettysburg a reunion of those who had worn the blue and the 
gray — the survivors of that dreadful ordeal. It was one of the most 
remarkable gatherings in the history of the world. An eye-witness 
described one of the s(!enes as follows: "On the following afternoon 
the survivor's of Pickett's men and of the l^hiladelphia lirigude, 



Secession and Civil IFar 473 

which received them at the meeting fifty years before, assembled 
at the wall at the Bloody Angle. The latter bore aloft the white 
trefoil which they had carried forward at that point a half-century 
before, amid shouts of 'Hurrah for the white trefoil.' Its hues were 
dim now, however. On the other side of the wall, directly opposite, 
Pickett's men carried a dingy Confederate flag, one of those which 
had been borne across the fields in the famous charge. The sur- 
vivors of the Philadelphia Brigade advanced to the wall on one side, 
while the thin line of Pickett's men approached through the long 
grass on the other. The two flags were crossed, and then a third 
was added, a silken banner, the Stars and Stripes. With hands 
stretched across the stone fence, the former foemen greeted each 
other in the hot sun, while some one began singing: 'My Country, 
'tis of thee.' " * 

In his address on July 4, President Woodrow Wilson spoke as 
follows : 

But fifty years have gone by since then, and I crave the 
privilege of speaking to you of what those fifty years have 
meant. 

What have they meant? They have meant peace and 
union and vigor, and the maturity and might of a great 
nation. We have found one another again as brothers and 
comrades in arms, enemies no longer, generous friends rather, 
our battles long past, the quarrel forgotten — except that we 
shall not forget the manly devotion of the men then arrayed 
against one another, now grasping hands and smiling into 
each other's eyes. . . . 

But do we deem the nation complete and finished? These 
venerable men crowding here to this famous field have set 
us a great example of devotion and utter sacrifice. . . . 

Here is the nation God has builded by our hands. What 
shall we do with it? The day of our country's life has but 
broadened into morning. Do not put uniforms by. Put 
the harness of the present on. Lift your eyes to the great 
tracts of life yet to he conquered in the interest of righteous 
peace, of that prosperity which lies in a people's hearts and 
outlasts all wars and errors of men. Come let us be com- 
* For the complete account see The Outlook, July 19, 1913. 



474 Readings in American History 

rades together or soldiers yet to serve our fellow-men in 
quiet counsel where the blare of trumpets is neither heard 
nor heeded and where the things are done which make blessed 
the nations of the world in peace and righteousness and love. 



CHAPTER XXIV 
THE CIVIL WAR 

89. Attitude of the English Toward the Civil War 

As the war progressed the people of Great Britain, especially the 
manufacturers, desired a cessation of hostilities. Many of the leaders 
in the House of Commons asserted that the South should be allowed 
to go out of the Union peaceably. The following extracts are from 
the London Times of July 3, 1862, and later dates. 

The present state of the campaign in America has been Disorgan- 
expected by every reasonable observer on this side the the^North 
ocean. The event may prove to the Northern people that 
the English are not such prejudiced judges and such ignorant 
commentators as has been asserted at Washington. Ever 
since the beginning of this unhappy conflict the crowning 
victory which was to restore the South to Federal supremacy 
has always been dancing like a Will-o '-the- Wisp before the 
eyes of the Northerners. It has led them through a bound- 
less waste of blood and money, it has caused them to stir 
up hatreds which a century perhaps will hardly appease, 
and it now glimmers before them as deceptively as ever, 
while they are sinking slowly but surely into the slough of 
national disorganization and bankruptcy. . . . 

All the power of the Federal Government has been put Large 
forth; a debt which no man accurately knows, but which '^^^^ 
all suspect to be vastly greater than admitted by the Govern- tracted. 
ment, has been contracted; men have been raised by the 
hundred thousand; Europe has been put under contribu- 
tion to furnish arms and stores and all the apparatus of con- 
quest; four main armies have advanced into the Confederate 

475 



476 



Readings in American History 



British 
views on 
the mag- 
nitude of 
the war. 



Protest 
against 
the war. 



territory; half-a-dozen expeditions have fastened themselves 
on the coast; and yet the South remains unconquered. It 
is demonstrated that the Federals can only effect their pur- 
pose by a campaign far more gigantic and by an expenditure 
far more lavish than that of the past twelvemonth. . . . 

This state of affairs must cause deep reflection among 
men of every class both in England and America. Happily, 
the people of this country, with the exception of an insig- 
nificant minority, have long formed their opinion of the war. 
They can see that if the South is to be subjugated and held 
by force of arms, this consummation must be preceded by 
the most savage and relentless contest in the history of man- 
kind, and followed by a political condition to which even 
war might be considered preferable. To impress this on 
the mind of the Northern people has been the object of the 
English press from the beginning, and the unanimity of 
English opinion may at length produce some effect. We 
have been right and the North has been wrong in so many 
things that our opinion is, at any rate, entitled to considera- 
tion. We would, then, once more raise our voice against 
the indefinite prosecution of this horrible war. While the 
scorching sun is filling the camps with fever and cholera, 
while the youth and strength of the country are being hur- 
ried to the common frontier in preparation for a new feast 
of blood in the autumn, ^\'hile the North is burdening itself 
with a debt concerning which even its rulers fear to speak 
plainl.y, and while the great staples of the South are being 
given to the flames, we would ask the Federals, with whom 
the whole matter really rests, where is their conscience, 
where is their common humanity, or their boasted worldly 
prudence? They are in arms to enforce on men of their own 
blood submission to a rule which the latter detest. Although 
for Uionths after Secession the most eminent men among 
them, including the late Presiilent and the present Secretary 
of State, declared that the subjugation of one part of the 
Union by another was a scandal not to be thought of, and 
that separation, though deplorable, could never be opposed 



The Civil War 



477 



by arms, yet the North now talks of conquest, and confisca- 
tion, and mihtary colonies with all the readiness of an Aus- 
trian commandant. What becomes of the famous Declara- 
tion of Independence? What becomes of the theory that 
government derives its powers from the consent of the gov- 
erned, if the populations of seven or eight great States, which, 
rich and poor, bond and free, white and black, are proved by 
events to be all of one mind, are now to be invaded, conquered, 
and kept down by a standing army in the name of Republican 
freedom? These things must at last become apparent to 
the American people. They are not so unlike the rest of 
mankind, so unlike their former selves, as to dispute what is 
clear to the whole world. That the South, if it wishes to South 
go, should be allowed to depart peaceably is the only policy anowed*^* 
which is agreeable to justice and wisdom. Unless the North to go 
can learn to see this, it must bring evils untold on itself, ^^^ ^ ^' 
on us, and on every European people. . . . 



SPEECH IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS, JULY 18, 1862 

(The London Times, July 19, 1862.) 

The interests of the North and of the South were dia- Contrary 
metrically opposite. The South was purely an agricultural Nonh^and 
people, and its interest was perfect free trade. The sup- South, 
posed interests of the North were in the direction of protec- 
tion. As the population of the North increased those States 
began to obtain an ascendancy in Congress, and then for 
the first time in 1824 a protective tariff was introduced. In 
1828 that tariff was rendered more stringent. As far back 
as 1833 South Carolina protested against the tariff, and gave 
notice of her intention to withdraw from the Union. She 
was induced to remain upon a promise that the tariff should 
be relaxed; but that promise was not kept, and in 1846 it 
was made still heavier. In addition to that the Morrill 
tariff has since increased the duties upon imports to an enor- 
mous extent. The exports from the United States in 1860 
amounted to $350,000,000, of which no less than $250,000,000 



478 



Readings in American History 



Effect of 
the tariff 
on the 
South. 



Effect of 
war in 
Great 
Britain. 



represented the produce of the South. If it were true that 
exports must be paid for by imports tlie South must either 
directly or indirectly be bearing an undue proportion of the 
taxation levied by the Federal Government. But the people 
of the South also complained that the increasing taxation 
was not levied for the purposes laid down in the constitu- 
tion, but for the purpose of encouraging the ironmasters of 
Pennsylvania and the manufacturers of New England. The 
evil consequences of that taxation was felt by them in two 
ways, because, while they were called upon to bear an undue 
proportion of taxation, they were also obliged to pay an in- 
creased price for articles which they required from the 
North and which they could obtain cheaper and better in 
England. The real causes of the present disruption were 
taxation without representation and taxation levied not for 
the purposes of all the States, but for the benefit of particular 
States. A very large proportion of the cotton grown in the 
Southern States found its way to this country, and the stop- 
page of the supply has created intense suffering here. At 
Blackburn there were about 15,000 persons receiving relief, 
at Preston close upon 12,000 and about 17,000 claimants 
upon the Relief Fund.* The English people were patient 
and bore their trials quietly, but their patience and endur- 
ance must not be tried too far. . . . 



90. President Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address, 
March 4, 1865 

(J. D. Richardson, Messages and Papers of the Presidents, 
1789-1897, VI, 276, 277. Washington, 1896.) 



Felloic-Countrymen: At this second appearing to take the 
oath of the Presidential office there is less occasion for an 
extended address than there was at the first. Then a state- 

*" Millions are at present suffering from a scarcity of cotton and it 
must be had." — ^London Times, July 2, 1802. 

It was estimated that 1,500,000 persons were at the time engaged in 
the cotton factories. These together with their dependants numbered 
6,000,000 persons. 



The Civil War 479 

ment somewhat in detail of a course to be pursued seemed 
fitting and proper. Now, at the expiration of four years, 
during which public declarations have been constantly 
called forth on every point and phase of the great contest 
which still absorbs the attention and engrosses the energies 
of the nation, little that is new could be presented. The 
progress of our arms, upon which all else chiefly depends, 
is as well known to the public as to myself, and it is, I trust, 
reasonably satisfactory and encouraging to all. With high 
hope for the future, no prediction in regard to it is ventured. 

On the occasion corresponding to this four years ago all 
thoughts were anxiously directed to an impending civil war. 
All dreaded it, all sought to avert it. While the inaugural 
address was being delivered from this place, devoted alto- 
gether to saving the Union without war, insurgent agents 
were in the cit}^ seeking to destroy it without war — seeking 
to dissolve the Union and divide effects by negotiation. 
Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make 
war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would 
accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came. 

One eighth of the whole population were colored slaves, 
not distributed generally over the Union, but localized in the 
southern part of it. These slaves constituted a peculiar 
and powerful interest. All knew that this interest was 
somehow the cause of the war. To strengthen, extend and 
perpetuate this interest was the object for which the insur- 
gents would rend the Union even by war, while the Govern- 
ment claimed no right to do more than to restrict the terri- 
torial enlargement of it. Neither party expected for the 
war the magnitude or duration which it has already attained. 
Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease 
with or even before the conflict itself should cease. Each 
looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental 
and astounding. Both read the same bible and pray to the 
same God, and each invokes His aid against the other. It 
may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just 
God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of 



480 Readings in American History 

other men's faces, but let us judge not that we be not judged. 
The prayers of both could not be answered. That of neither 
has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own pur- 
poses. "Woe unto the world because of offenses; for it 
must needs be that offenses come, but woe to that man by 
whom the offense cometh." If we shall suppose that Ameri- 
can slavery is one of those offenses which, in the providence 
of God, must needs come, but which, having continued 
through His appointed time. He now wills to remove, and 
that He gives to both North and South this terrible war as 
the woe due to those by whom the offense came, shall we 
discern therein any departure from those divine attributes 
which the believers in a living God always ascribe to Him? 
Fondly do we hope, fervently do we pray, that this mighty 
scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills 
that it continue until all the wealth piled by the bondsman's 
two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, 
and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash shall be 
paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three 
thousand years ago, so still it must be said " the judgments 
of the Lord are true and righteous altogether." 

With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firm- 
ness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive 
on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's 
wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle 
and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may 
achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves 
and with all nations. 

91. Scene at Appomattox, 1865 

General John B. Gordon entered the Confederate army as cap- 
tain of infantry at the outbreak of the war. He rose to the rank of 
lieutenant-general, and commanded a wing of General Lee's army 
at Appomattox Court House. In 1873 he was elected to the United 
States Senate from Georgia, but resigned his seat when in the midst 
of his second term. He was elected governor of Georgia in 1886. 
— (General John B. Gordon, Reminiscences of the Civil War, 443 
passim. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1903.) 



The Civil War 



481 



General Longstreet's forces and mine at Appomattox, 
numbered, together, less than 8000 men; but every man 
able to bear arms was still resolute and ready for battle. 
There were present three times that many enrolled Confed- 
erates; but two thirds of them were so enfeebled by hunger, 
so wasted by sickness, and so footsore from constant march- 
ing that it was difficult for them to keep up with the army. 
They were wholly unfit for duty. It is important to note 
this fact as explaining the great difference in the number of 
those who fought and those who were to be fed. At the 
final meeting between General Lee and General Grant rations 
were ordered by General Grant for 25,000 Confederates. 

Marked consideration and courtesy were exhibited at 
Appomattox by the victorious Federals, from the command- 
ing generals to the privates in the ranks. General Meade, 
who had known General Lee in the old army, paid, after the 
surrender, an unofficial visit to the Confederate chieftain. 
After cordial salutations, General Lee said playfully to his 
former comrade in arms that years were telling upon him. 
General Meade, who had fought Lee at Gettysburg and in 
many subsequent battles, made the strikingly gracious and 
magnanimous answer: "not years, but General Lee himself 
has made me gray." . . . One of the knightliest soldiers of 
the Federal army, General Joshua L. Chamberlain of Maine, 
who afterward served with distinction as governor of his 
State, called his troops into line, and as my men marched 
in front of them, the veterans in blue gave a soldierly salute 
to those vanquished heroes — a token of respect from Ameri- 
cans to Americans, a final and fitting tribute from Northern 
to Southern chivalry. . . . 

During these last scenes at Appomattox some of the Con- 
federates were so depressed in spirit, so filled with appre- 
hensions as to the policy to be adopted by the civil authori- 
ties in Washington, that the future seemed to them shrouded 
in gloom. They knew that burnt homes and fenceless farms, 
poverty and ashes, would greet them on their return from 
the war. Even if the administration at Washington should 



Physical 
condition 
of Con- 
federates, 
1865. 



Cour- 
tesies 
between 
former 
foes. 



Appre- 
hensions 
of Gen- 
eral Lee's 
soldiers. 



482 Readings in American History 

be friendly, they did not believe that the Southern States 
could recover in half a century from the chaotic condition 
in which the war had left them. The situation was enough 
to daunt the most hopeful and appall the stoutest hearts. 
"What are we to do? How are we to begin life again?" 
they asked. "Every dollar of our circulating medium has 
been rendered worthless. Our banks and rich men have no 
money. The commodities and personal property which for- 
merly gave us credit have been destroyed. The Northern 
banks and money-lenders will not take as security our lands, 
denuded of houses, and without animals and implements 
for their cultivation. The railroads are torn up or the 
tracks are worn out. The negroes are freed and may refuse 
to work. Besides, what assurance can we have of law and 
order and the safety of our families with four million slaves 
suddenly emancipated in the midst of us and the restraints 
to which they have been accustomed entirely removed?" 

To many intelligent soldiers and some of the officers the 
conditions were so discouraging, the gloom so impenetrable, 
that they seriously discussed the advisability of leaving the 
country and beginning life anew in some other land. 

While recognizing the dire extremity which confronted us, 
I was inclined to take a more hopeful view of the future. I 
therefore spoke to the Southern soldiers on the field at Appo- 
mattox, in order to check as best I could their disposition to 
leave the country, and to counteract, if possible, the paralyz- 
ing efi'ect of the overwhelming discouragements which met 
them on every side. 
Scenes at As we reached the designated point, the arms were stacked 
mattox, ^^^ ^^® battle flags were folded. Those sad and suffering 
men, many of them weeping as they saw the old banners 
laid upon the stacked guns like trappings on the coffin of 
their dead hopes, at once gathered in compact mass around 
me. Sitting on my horse in the midst of them, I spoke to 
them for the last time as their commander. In all my past 
life I had never undertaken to speak where my own emotions 
were so literally overwhelming. I counselled such course of 



The Civil War 483 

action as I believed most conducive to the welfare of the 
South and of the whole country. I told them of my own 
grief which almost stifled utterance, and that I realized most 
keenly the sorrow that was breaking their hearts, and ap- 
preciated fully the countless and stupendous barriers across 
the paths they were to tread. 

Reminding them of the benign Southern climate, of the 
fertility of their lands, of the vastly increased demand for 
the South's great staple and the high prices paid for it, I 
offered these facts as legitimate bases of hope and encourage- 
ment. I said to them that through the rifts in the clouds 
then above us I could see the hand of the Almighty God 
stretched out to help us in the impending battle with adver- 
sity; that He would guide us in the gloom, and bless every 
manly effort to bring back to desolated homes the sunshine 
and comforts of former years. I told them the principles 
for which they had so grandly fought and uncomplainingly 
suffered were not lost, — could not be lost, — for they were the 
principles on which the Fathers had built the Republic, and 
that the very throne of Jehovah was pledged that truth 
should triumph and Liberty li\e. As to the thought of 
their leaving the country, that must be abandoned. It was 
their duty as patriots to remain and work for the recuperation 
of our stricken section with the same courage, energy, and 
devotion with which they had fought for her in war. I 
urged them to enter cheerfully and hopefully upon the tasks 
imposed by the fortunes of war, obeying the laws, and giving, 
as I knew they would, the same loyal support to the general 
Government which they had yielded to the Confederacy. 
I closed with a prophecy that passion would speedily die, 
and that the lirave and magnanimous soldiers of the Union 
army, when disbanded and scattered among the people, 
would become promoters of sectional peace and fraternity. 

That prophecy would have been speedily fulfilled but for Effector 
the calamitous fate that befell the country in the death of f^^^^i°^ 
President Lincoln; and even in spite of that great misfortune, 
we should have much sooner reached the era of good-will 



484 



Readings in American Histnri/ 



Formal 
agreement 
at Appo- 
mattox. 



Lee and 
Grant. 



and sectional concord if the spirit of the soldiers who did the 
fighting had animated the civilians who did the talking. . . . 

(rcneral Gibbon, General Griffin, and General Merritt 
were appointed by General Grant to meet Generals Pen- 
dleton, Longstreet, and myself, appointed by General Lee. 
The special duty which devolved on these six officers was the 
discussion and drafting of all details to carry out the formal 
surrender, according to the general terms agreed upon by 
the commanders-in-chief. In all our intercourse with those 
three l^nion officers I can recall no expression or word 
that could possibly wound the sensibility of a Confederate. 
Rejoiced as they naturally were at the termination of the 
long and costly struggle, and at the ultimate triumph of the 
Union cause, they scrupulously avoided allusions to battles 
in which the Federal armies had been victors, and endeavored 
rather to direct con\'ersation to engagements in which the 
Union forces had been vanquished. Indeed, Confederate 
officers generally observed and commented upon this spirit, 
which at that time seemed to actuate the privates as well as 
the officers of the victorious army. . . . 

A great Frenchman pronounced the French Revolution 
an "about-face of the universe." The meeting of Lee and 
Grant at Appomattox was the momentous epoch of the cen- 
tury. It marked greater changes, uprooted a grander and 
nobler civilization, and, in the emancipation of one race 
and the impoverishment of another, it in\'olved \'aster con- 
sequences than had ever followed the fall of a dynasty or 
the wreck of an empire. It will stand in history as the 
Brook Kedron over which the Southern people pa.ssed to 
their Gethsemane; where every landscape was marred by 
ruins; where every breath of air was a lament and home a 
house of mourning. 

The magnanimity exhibited at Appomattox justifies me 
in recording here my conviction that, had it been possible 
for General Grant and his soldiers to foresee the bloody sweat 
which through ten successive years was wrung from Southern 
brows, the Union army would then and there have resolved 



The Civil War 485 

to combat all unfriendly legislation. Or, later, if Booth's 
bullet had not terminated the life filled with "charity to all 
and malice toward none," President Lincoln's benign pur- 
poses, seconded by the great-hearted among our Northern 
countrymen, would have saved the South from those cari- 
catures of government which cursed and crushed her. 

In looking back now over that valley of death — period of 
reconstruction, — its waste and its woe, it is hard to realize 
that the worn and impoverished Confederates were able to 
go through it. The risen South of to-day is a memorial of 
the same patience, endurance, and valor which immortal- 
ized the four years' struggle for Southern independence. 

All accounts agree that when the two great commanders 
met in the little brick house at Appomattox, they presented 
a contrast that was unique and strikingly picturesque. A 
stranger, unacquainted with the situation, would have se- 
lected Lee for the conqueror and Grant for the vanquished 
hero. Prompted by a sincere respect for the illustrious 
Federal chieftain. General Lee was dressed in his best uni- 
form, and appeared at the place of conference in faultless 
military attire. General Grant, on the other hand, had re- 
ceived, while on his lines among his soldiers, General Lee's 
reply to his last note. Without returning to headquarters 
for his dress uniform, the Union commander rode at once to 
the point of meeting, wearing his fatigue suit, his cavalry 
boots begrimed with Virginia mud, and his plain blue over- 
coat concealing all insignia of rank. I never heard General 
Grant say so, but his characteristic modesty and magna- 
nimity, with which I became familiar in after years, lead me 
to believe that consideration for General Lee prompted this 
absence of ostentation. . . . 

General Grant's own declaration, made many years after 
the war, that he felt "sad and depressed" as he rode to meet 
General Lee in the little village of Appomattox, is entirely 
consistent with every account given of his bearing at the 
surrender. 

It was reported at the time, and has since been confirmed 



486 Readings in American History 

by Union officers who were present, that he positively re- 
fused to permit the Union artillery to fire a salute in cele- 
bration of the victory over their own countrymen. The 
exhibitions of General Grant's magnanimity which I observed 
during my personal intercourse with him immediately after 
the war, later while he was President, and when he became 
a private citizen, are all consistent with the spirit manifested 
by him at the surrender of Lee's army. In his "Memoirs" 
he has given a quietus to that widely circulated romance that 
he returned to Lee his proffered sword. I do not doubt that 
he would have done so; but there was no occasion for Lee's 
offering it, because in the terms agreed upon it was stipulated 
that the Confederate officers should retain their side-arms. . . . 



92. Character of Abraham Lincoln 

(London Punch, in which the following poem was first printed, 
had been particularly severe in its criticisms of Mr. Lincoln. The 
poem was written at the time of his death.) 

You lay a wreath on murdered Lincoln's bier! 

You, who with mocking pencil wont to trace, 
Broad for the self-complacent British sneer, 

His length of shambling limb, his furrowed face, 

His gaunt, gnarled hands, his unkempt bristling hair, 
His garb uncouth, his bearing ill at ease. 

His lack of all we prize as debonair. 

Of power or will to shine, of art to please! 

You, whose smart pen backed up the pencil's laugh, 
Judging each step, as though the way were plain; 

Reckless, so it could point its paragraph 
Of chief's perplexity, or people's pain ! 

Beside this corpse, that bears for winding-sheet 
The stars and stripes he lived to rear anew. 



The Civil War 487 

Between the mourners at his head and feet. 
Say, scurril-jester, is there room for you? 

Yes, he had Hved to shame me from my sneer — 
To lame my pencil, and to confute my pen — 

To make me own this hind of princes peer. 
This rail-sphtter, a true-born king of men. 

My shallow judgment I had learnt to rue. 
Noting how to occasion's height he rose; 

How his quaint wit made home-truth seem more true; 
How, iron-like, his temper grew by blows; 

How humble, yet how hopeful, he could be; 

How in good fortune and in ill the same; 
Nor bitter in success, nor boastful he. 

Thirsty for gold, nor feverish for fame. 

He went about his work — such work as few 
Ever had laid on head, and heart, and hand — 

As one who knows where there's a task to do; 

Man's honest will must Heaven's good grace command; 

Who trusts the strength will with the burden grow, 
That God makes instruments to work his will, 

If but that will we can arrive to know. 

Nor tamper with the weights of good and ill. 

So he went forth to battle, on the side 

That he felt clear was liberty's and Right's, 

As in his peasant boyhood he had plied 

His warfare with rude nature's thwarting mights; — 

The uncleared forest, the unbroken soil, 

The iron bark that turns the lumberer's axe. 

The rapid, that o'erbears the boatman's toil, 

The prairie, hiding the mazed wanderer's tracks, 



488 Readings in Amrricnn Ilisforj/ 

The ambushed Indian, and tlie prowhng bear, — 
Such were the needs that helped his youth to train; 

Rough culture — but such trees large fruit may bear, 
If but their stocks be of right girth and grain. 

So he grew up, a destined work to do. 

And lived to do it: four long-suffering years' 

Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report, lived through, 
And then he heard the hisses change to cheers, 

The taunts to tribute, the abuse to praise, 

And took both with the same unwavering mood; 

Till, as he came on light, from darkling days. 

And seemed to touch the goal from where he stood, 

A felon hand, between the goal and him, 

Reached from })ehind his back, a trigger prest — 

And those perplexed and patient eyes were dim, 
Those gaunt, long-laboring limbs were laid to rest! 

The words of mercy were upon his lips. 
Forgiveness in his heart and on his pen. 

When this vile murderer brought swift eclipse 
To thoughts of peace on earth, good will to men. 

The old world and the new, from sea to sea. 
Utter one voice of sympathy and shame! 

Sore heart, so stopped when it at last beat high ; 
Sad life, cut short just as its triumph came. 



CHAPTER XXV 
RECONSTRUCTION 

93. An Appeal to the South, 1865 

Benjamin F. Perry was a leader in the Union party of South Caro- 
lina, and was opposed to nullification and civil war, but cast his lot 
with the South. He was appointed provisional governor of the State 
by President Johnson. The occasion of the speech was a public 
meeting at Greenville, South Carolina, July 3, 1865. — (B. F. Perry, 
Reminiscences of Public Men, with Speeches and Addresses, second 
series, 229 passim. Greenville, S. C, 1881.) 

Mr. Chairman : This public meeting of the citizens of Effects of 
Greenville is one of deep humiliation and sorrow. A cruel ^^^^ ^^^ 
and bloody war has swept over the Southern States. One 
hundred and fifty thousand of our bravest and most gallant 
men have fallen on the fields of battle' The land is filled 
with mourning widows and orphans! There is scarcely a 
house in which there has not been weeping for some one 
lost. Three thousand millions of dollars have been spent 
by the Southern States in carrying on this war! And now 
we are called upon to give up four millions of slaves, worth 
two thousand millions of dollars. ISIoreover, our coimtry 
has been ravaged and desolated! Our cities, towns, and 
villages are smouldering ruins! Conquering armies occupy 
the country. The Confederacy has fallen, and we have 
been deprived of all civil government and political rights! 
We have neither law nor order. There is no protection for 
life, liberty or property. Everywhere there is demoraliza- 
tion, rapine and murder! Hunger and starvation are upon 
us! And now we meet as a disgraced and subjugated people 

489 



before the 
war 



490 Readings in Amcriran History 

to petition the conquerors to restore our lost rights! Such 
are the bitter fruits of Secession ! 
The South How different, Mr. Ch.airman, in tone, spirit, and char- 
acter, was that meeting of the citizens of Greenville just five 
years ago, in this same building which inaugurated this most 
fatal, bloody and disastrous revolution! Then all was joy, 
hope, excitement and confidence. Seated in my law office 
looking towards this court house, I saw a crowd of persons 
rushing in, composed of college boys, and their professors, 
merchants, mechanics, doctors, lawyers, and idlers from the 
hotel, with a sprinkling of farmers and planters. Soon I 
heard the public speaking commence, and the air was rent 
with the wild and rapturous applause of the excited audience. 
The more extravagant the denunciators of the Union, the 
louder were the shouts of applause! INIy mind was then 
filled with the worst forebodings as to the future. I thought 
I foresaw all the evils which ha\e since befallen our beloved 
country. But my political influence was gone, and my 
voice was powerless to stay the angry and excited feelings 
of my fellow citizens. 

We were at that time, Mr. Chairman, the most prosperous, 
free and happy people on the face of the earth. ~ The sun 
had never shone on an empire or nation whose future was 
more bright and glorious. But the public mind had, unfor- 
tunately, been prepared, in the Southern States, for thirty 
years past, for an effort at disunion. The people had been 
induced to believe that disunion would be a quiet blessing, 
and that it might come without war and bloodshed! The 
leading politicians of the South were anxiously waiting for 
some plausible pretext for seceding from the American 
Union. The election of Abraham Lincoln, President of the 
United States, by a sectional party at the North, was re- 
garded as a favorable opportunity for accomplishing their 
long cherished purpose. We were told after this event that 
there was no longer any safety in the Union for slavery or 
our constitutional rights. 

Let us now see, Mr. Chairman, if there was any truth in 



Reconstruction 



491 



this assertion. Mr. Lincoln was elected in direct conformity Election 
of the Federal Constitution. He was elected in consequence °^ Lincoln, 
of the political divisions and dissensions at the South. Had 
the Southern States been united on 07ie candidate instead 
of voting for three, the result would have been different. 
Mr. Lincoln only received a little more than one-third of 
the votes cast in the Presidential election. He therefore 
w^ent into office with a large majority of the American people 
opposed to his administration. There was at that time a 
majority of twenty-seven members in the House of Repre- 
sentatives in Congress in opposition to President Lincoln. 
There was a majority of six members of the Senate of the 
United States opposed to him. And Sir, a majority of 
the Supreme Court of the United States, were opposed to the 
avowed principles of the Republican party which elected 
Mr. Lincoln. . . . The election of President Lincoln was, 
then, no just grounds for secession. ... It is said that the 
Southern States left the LTnion to preserve slavery! How 
fatal the mistake! Every one ought to have known that 
slavery was stronger in the Union than it possibly could be 
out of the LTnion. Indeed, the Union was its only safety and slavery 
protection. AYhilst in the Union we had the power of recap- 
turing our fugitive slaves. Out of the Union we could have 
no such power. The whole civilized world was opposed to 
us on this question, and as a slave power would have looked 
upon us with scornful jealousy. 

But, Mr. Chairman, the madness and folly of commencing 
this revolution is now manifest to all. There was fanaticism 
at the South as well as at the North. Politicians did all 
they could in both sections to stir up the worst passions of 
the human heart, and make the people forget they were 
fellow citizens of one great republic. We were told that the 
Northern people would not fight; that there would be no 
war; and offers were made to drink all the blood that would 
he shed. History should have taught them that no great 
government like ours ever was or ever could be broken up 
without war and all its dire consequences. 



and 
Union. 



Influence 
of poli- 
ticians. 



492 



Readings iit American History 



The 

uneven 

contest. 



Majority 
of people 
not in 
favor of 
secession. 



The war 
not a re- 
bellion. 



General 
Lee. 



How was it, Mr. Chairman, that the Southern States 
failed in their rebeUion? It is true that the contest was a 
most unequal one. Eight milhon persons fighting against 
twenty-two millions! The one having neither government, 
army, navy or manufactures ; and the other having all these, 
with an influx of foreigners and Southern negroes to increase 
their strength. The Southern people are an impulsive, en- 
thusiastic people, but they want the energy and perseverance 
of the North. I said to my friends at the beginning of the 
war, that my greatest apprehension was, that our soldiers 
would get tired of the war and quit it. I did not believe it 
possible to hold in subjection eight millions of people, scat- 
tered over such an immense territory as composed the South- 
ern States, if they were disposed to make any and every 
sacrifice, as the Dutch Republic did in their war of independ- 
ence. But, sir, one great cause of our failure was, that the 
heart of the Southern people never was in this ^e^•olution! 
There was not a State, except South Carolina, in which there 
was a majority in favor of secession ! Even in South Carolina, 
there were many districts in which one-half of the voters did 
not go to the polls. . . . 

But, Mr. Chairman, the secession of eleven or twelve 
sovereign States, composing one-half of the territory of the 
United States, was something more than a rebellion. It was 
legitimate war between the two sections, and they acted 
towards each other throughout the war as recognized bellig- 
erents, and were so treated and recognized by foreign nations. 
. . . Surel.N' a general officer who has been exchanged while 
this gigantic war was waging cannot now be regarded as a 
traitor, tried and executed as a traitor. To call such a war 
a rebellion is simply a misapplication of terms. The greatest 
and best men of the Southern States were most conscien- 
tiously leading this war, either in council or on the field of 
battle. In all history there is not a more perfect model of 
a pure and great man (save Washington) than General Lee. 
That he should now be hung as a traitor, would be an act 
of national infamy that would shock the whole civilized 



Reconsiniciion 493 

world and render the name of the United States odious in 
history. . . . 

There have been deeds of atrocity committed by the 
United States armies, which never can be forgotten in the 
Southern States. But I do entreat them to become lo\'al 
citizens and respect the national authorities of the Republic. Loyalty 
Abandon at once and forever all notions of Secession, Nulli- u^gg^"'^'^'^^ 
fication and Disunion, determine to live and to teach your 
children to live, as true American citizens. There will be 
in the future, if there is not now, as much of pride and 
grandeur in the name of "American citizen" as there once 
was in that of "Roman citizen." The Republic is destined 
to go on increasing in national power and greatness for cen- 
turies to come. As soon as the ferment of the revolution 
subsides, we shall be restored to all our civil rights, and be 
as free and republican as we ever were. There is no reason 
why there should be any sectional jealousy or ill feeling be- 
tween the North and the South. They are greatly necessary 
to each other. Their interests are dependent and not vwaX 
interests, and now that slavery is abolished, there will be 
no bone of contention between the two sections. . . . 

The resolutions which I have had the honor of submit- 
ting for the adoption of this meeting are similar in purport 
to those adopted at Charleston, Columbia and elsewhere. 
They simply express our willingness to adopt the terms of 
the President's proclamation and return to our allegiance. 
We likewise ask for the appointment of a provisional governor 
and the restoration of the civil authorities. There is nothing 
in these resolutions to which the most sensitive can object. . . . 

94. The South and Carpetbag Rule, 1873 

James S. Pike, before the Civil War, was one of the editorial writers 
on the New York Tribune. He served as United States minister 
at The Hague during the war. In 1873 he went South for the pur- 
pose of studying the Carpetbag System of government and made a 
special study of conditions in South Carolina. — (James S. Pike, 
The Prostrate State, 12 passim. New York, 1873.) 



494 



Readings in American History 



South 
Carolina 
Legisla- 
ture. 



Negro 
domina- 
tion. 



In the place of this old aristocratic society stands the 
rude form of the most ignorant democracy that mankind 
ever saw, invested with the functions of government. . . . 
It is barbarism overwhelming civilization by physical force. 
It is the slave rioting in the halls of his master and put- 
ting that master under his feet. And, though it is done 
without malice and without vengeance, it is nevertheless 
none the less completely done. Let us approach nearer and 
take a closer view. We will enter the House of Represent- 
atives. Here sit one hundred and twenty-four members. 
Of these, twenty-three are white men, representing the re- 
mains of the old civilization. These are good-looking, sub- 
stantial citizens. They are men of weight and standing in 
the communities they represent. They are all from the hill 
country. The frosts of sixty and seventy winters whiten 
the heads of some among them. . . . Grouped in a corner 
of the commodious and well-furnished chamber, they stolidly 
survey the noisy riot that goes on in the great black Left 
and Center, where the business and debates of the House 
are conducted, and where sit the strange and extraordinary 
guides of the fortunes of a once proud and haughty State. 
In this crucial trial of his pride, his manhood, his preju- 
dices, his spirit, it must be said of the Southern Bourbon 
of the Legislature that he comports himself with a dignity, 
a reserve, and a decorum that command admiration. . . . 

Deducting the twenty-three members referred to, who 
comprise the entire strength of the opposition, we find one 
hundred and one remaining. Of this one hundred and one, 
ninety-four are colored, and seven are their white allies. 
Thus the blacks outnumber the whole body of whites in the 
House more than three to one. On the mere basis of num- 
bers in the State the injustice of this disproportion is mani- 
fest, pince the black population is relatively four to three 
of the whites. A just rectification of the disproportion, on 
the basis of population merely, would give fifty-four whites 
to seventy black members. And the line of race very nearly 
marks the line of hostile politics. As things stand, the body 



Reconstruction 



495 



IS almost literally a Black Parliament, and it is the only one 
on the face of the earth which is the representative of a white 
constituency and the professed exponent of an advanced 
type of modern civilization. But the reader will find almost 
any portraiture inadequate to give a vivid idea of the body, 
and enable him to comprehend the complete metamorphosis 
of the South Carolina Legislature without observing its 
details. The Speaker is black, the Clerk is black, the door- 
keepers are black, the little pages are black, the chairman of 
the Ways and Means is bl<ack, and the chaplain is coal-black. 
At some of the desks sit colored men whose types it would 
be hard to find outside of Congo; whose costume, visages, 
attitudes, and expression only befit the forecastle of a buc- 
caneer. It must be remembered, also, that these men, with 
not more than half a dozen exceptions, have been them- 
selves slaves, and that their ancestors were slaves for gen- 
erations. . . . 

The Speaker orders a member whom he has discovered to General 
be particularly unruly to take his seat. The member obeys, 
and with the same motion that he sits down, throws his 
feet onto his desk, hiding himself from the Speaker by the 
soles of his boots. In an instant he appears again on the 
floor. After a few experiences of this sort, the Speaker 
threatens, in a laugh, to call "the gemman" to order. This 
is considered a capital joke and a guffaw follows. The laugh 
goes round and then the peanuts are cracked and munched 
faster than ever; one hand being employed in fortifying the 
inner man with this nutriment of universal use, while the 
other enforces the views of the orator. This laughing pro- 
pensity of the sable crowd is a great cause of disorder. They 
laugh as hens cackle — one begins and all follow. 

But underneath all this shocking burlesque upon legisla- 
tive proceedings, we must not forget that there is something 
very real to this uncouth and untutored multitude. It is 
not all sham nor all burlesque. They have a genuine interest 
and a genuine earnestness in the business of the assembly 
which we are bound to recognize and respect unless we 



disorder. 



Sincerity 
in the 
legislature. 



496 



Readings in American History 



Unusual 
expendi- 
tures. 



Bribery. 



would be accounted shallow critics. They have an earnest 
purpose, born of a conviction that their position and con- 
dition are not fully assured, which lends a sort of dignity 
to their proceedings. The barbarous, animated jargon in 
which they so often indulge is on occasion seen to be so 
transparently sincere and weighty in their own minds, that 
sympathy supplants disgust. The whole thing is a wonder- 
ful novelty to them as well as to observers. Seven years ago 
these men were raising corn and cotton under the whip of 
the overseer. To-day they are raising points of order, and 
questions of privilege. They find they can raise one as well 
as the other. They prefer the latter. It is easier, and better 
paid. Then it is the evidence of an accomplished result. 
It means escape and defense from old oppressors. It means 
liberty. It means the destruction of prison walls only too 
real to them. It is the sunshine of their lives. It is their 
day of jubilee. . . . 

For it must be remembered that not a dollar of it goes 
for interest on the State debt. The barter and sale of the 
offices in which the finances of the State are manipulated, 
which are divided among the numerous small counties under 
a system offering unusual facilities for the business, go on 
with as much activity as ever. The new Governor has the 
reputation of spending $30,000 or S40,000 a year on a salary 
of $3,500, but his financial operations are taken as a matter 
of course, and only referred to with a slight shrug of the 
shoulders. . . . 

The narration I have given sufficiently shows how things 
have gone and are going in this State, but its effect would 
be much heightened if there were time and room for details. 
Here is one: The total amount of the stationery bill of the 
House for the twenty years preceding 1S()1 averaged $400 
per annum. Last year it was $16,000. . . . 

The whole amount of the printing bills of the State last 
year, it is computed (for everything here has to be in part 
guesswork), aggregated the immense sum of $600,000. 

... In regard to all such shameless acts as this, and the 



Reconstruction 497 

refusing of charters to responsible persons to make needed 
improvements in the State because the members are not 
bribed, the respectable white men of the Legislature say 
they should blush with shame if they felt that the real 
character of the State was represented in the body. But 
as it is they can only plead that scoundrelism is dominant 
and that all legislation is in the hands of unscrupulous 
knaves who belong in the penitentiary. The facts fill every 
decent citizen with mortification, but, outside the gang who 
hold control, every one claims exemption from all responsi- 
bility for the degradation into which the State has fallen. 

The only drawback to the country, the only hindrance to 
an immediate accession of population from the best agri- 
cultural classes abroad, is this scoundrel government, which 
has so long rioted, and is yet rioting, in its robberies. There 
seems to be no way of even checking their intolerable prac- 
tices but to flash the flambeau of an outside execration in 
their faces. They defy the indignation of the people they 
have ruined, but they are not proof against the indignation 
of the country at large. It becomes a public duty. 

"To lash the rascals naked through the land" and aid this 
prostrate State to recover possession of itself, retrieve its 
standing before the world, and drag to condign punishment 
the culprits who have so long rioted in its spoils, and who so 
persistently prey upon its remains. . . . 



CHAPTER XXVI 

DIPLOMACY, FINANCE, AND POLITICS, 1865-1877 

95. The Aiabama Claims 

Prior to his election to the United States Senate, George F. Hoar 
served in the House of Representatives and also in the Senate of 
Massachusetts. From 1869 to 1877 he was a member of the United 
States House of Representatives. He then served two terms as 
United States Senator. He was also a member of the Electoral 
Commission, 1876. — (George F. Hoar, Autobiography of Seventy 
Years, II, 130 passim. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, 1903.) 

A very interesting question was settled during the Admin- 
istration of President Hayes as to the disposition of the 
§15,500,000 recovered from Great Britain by the award of 
the tribunal of Geneva for the violation of the obhgation of 
neutrality during the Civil War. Great Britain, after what 
we had claimed was full notice of what was going on, per- 
mitted certain war vessels to be constructed in England for 
the Confederate Government. She permitted those vessels 
to leave her ports and, by a preconcerted arrangement, to 
receive their armament, also procured in Great Britain. 
She turned a deaf, an almost contemptuous ear, to the re- 
monstrances of Mr. Adams, our Minister. The Foreign 
Office, after a while, informed him that they did not wish to 
recei\e any more representations on that subject. But, as 
the War went on and the naval and military strength of the 
United States increased and became more manifest, Great 
Britain became more careful. At last some Rebel rams were 
built by the Lairds, ship-builders of Liverpool. Mr. Adams 

498 



Diplomacy, Finance, and Politics 499 

procured what he deemed sufficient evidence that they were 
intended for the Confederate service, and made a demand 
on Lord Russell, the British Foreign Minister, that they be 
detained. To this Lord Russell replied that he had submitted 
the matter to the Law officers of Her Majesty's Government, 
and they could see no reason for interfering. To this Mr. 
Adams instantly replied that he received the communica- 
tion with great regret, adding, " It would be superfluous in 
me to point out to your Lordship that this is war." Lord 
Russell hastily reconsidered his opinion, and ordered the rams 
to be stopped. 

He afterwards, as appears in his biography by Spencer 
Walpole, admitted his error in not interfering in the case of 
the vessels that had gone out before. But the mischief was 
done. The terror of these Confederate vessels had driven 
our commerce from the sea, or had compelled our merchant 
vessels to sail under foreign flags, and had enormously in- 
creased the rate of insurance to those who kept the sea under 
our flag. 

After the War had ended a demand for compensation 
was earnestly pressed upon Great Britain. A demand was 
made to refer the claims to arbitration, and a treaty nego- 
tiated for that purpose by Reverdy Johnson under Andrew 
Johnson's Administration, was rejected by the Senate, on 
the ground, among other reasons, that the element of chance 
entered into the result. 

Thereafter, in General Grant's time, a Joint High Com- 
mission to deal with this controversy was agreed upon be- 
tween the two countries, which sat in Washington, in 187L 
The Commissioners in behalf of the United States were 
Hamilton Fish, Secretary of State; Robert C. Schenck, then 
our Minister to England; Samuel Nelson, Judge of the Su- 
preme Court; Ebenezer Rockwood Hoar, lately Attorney- 
General, and George H. Williams, afterwards Attorney- 
General. On behalf of Great Britain there were Earl de 
Grey and Ripon, afterwards Marquis of Ripon ; Sir Stafford 
H. Northcote, afterwards Earl of Idlesleigh; Edward Thorn- 



500 Readings in America?! History 

ton, then the British Minister here; John A. MacDonald, 
Premier of Canada, and Montaj^^ue Bernard, Professor or 
International Law at Oxford. The two c<nintries couKl not, 
in all probability, have furnished men more eompetent for 
such a purpose. They agreed upon a treat\". The rules by 
which neutral go\'ernments were to be held to be bound for 
the purposes of the arbitration were agreed on beforehand 
in the Treaty itself. They agreed to observe these rules 
between themselves in the future, and to invite other mari- 
time powers to accede to them. The Treaty also contained 
a statement that Her Britannic Majesty had "authorized 
her High Commissioners and Plenipotentiaries to express in 
a friendly spirit the regret felt by Her Majesty's Government 
for the escape, under whatever circumstances, of the Alabama 
and other vessels from British ports, and for the depredations 
committed by those vessels." I am not aware that a like 
apology has ever been matle by Great Britain during her 
history to any other country. There was a provision, also, 
for the reference of some other matters in dispute between the 
two countries. One of these related to the fisheries — a source 
of irritation between this country and the British possessions 
north of us ever since the Revolution. ... 

It was agreed to submit the questions of the claims grow- 
ing out of the escape of the Rebel cruisers to a tribunal 
which was to sit at Geneva. Of this, one member was to 
be appointed by each of the parties, and the others by cer- 
tain designated foreign governments. Our Commissioner 
was Charles Francis Adams, who liad borne himself so wisely 
and patiently during tlie period of the Civil War. The Eng- 
lish Commissioner was Sir Alexander Cockburn, Lord Chief 
Justice of England. The United States was represented by 
Caleb Gushing, William M. Evarts and Morrison R. Waite, 
afterwards Chief Justice of the L^nited States, as counsel. 

Adams rarely betrayed any deep emotion on any public 
occasion, however momentous. But it must have been hard 
for him to conceal the thrill of triumph, after the ignominy 
to which he had submitted during that long and anxious 



Diplomacy, Finance, and Politics 501 

time, when he heard the tribunal pronounce its judgment 
condemning Great Britain to pay .115,500,000 damages for 
the wrong-doing against which he had so earnestly and vainly 
protested. Perhaps the feeling of his grandfather when he 
signed the Treaty of Independence in 1783 might alone be 
compared to it. Yet his father, John Quincy Adams, had 
something of the same feeling when, at the close of a war 
which put an end fore^"er to the impressment of American 
seamen, and made the sailor in his ship as safe as the farmer 
in his dwelling, he signed the Treaty which secured our 
boundary and our fisheries as they had been secured by his 
father. . . . 

The $15,500,000 was promptly paid. Then came the 
question what to do with it. There was no doubt anywhere 
that the owners of vessels or cargoes that had been cap- 
tured or destro3'ed by the cruisers for whose departures from 
British ports Great Britain was in fault were entitled to 
be paid. That, however, would not consume the fund. 
The fund had been paid in gold coin by Great Britain, Sep- 
tember 9, 1873, and had been covered into the Treasury 
the same day. This sum was invested in a registered bond 
for the amount of the five per cent, loan of 1881, dated 
September 10, 1873, inscribed, " Hamilton Fish, Secretary 
of State, in trust. To be held subject to the future disposi- 
tion of Congress, etc." This sum largely exceeded what was 
necessary to make good the principal of all losses directly 
resulting from the damages caused by the insurgent cruisers, 
above what had already been reimbursed from insurance. 
These claims were popularly termed the "claims for direct 
damages. . . . 



502 



Readings in American History 



96. Disposal of the Public Lands by the Federal 
Government 

(Thomas Donaldson, The Public Domain, House Miscellaneous 
Documents, 2d Session, 47th Congress, Vol. XIX, p. 223 passim.) 



Public 
lands and 
the people. 



Public 
lands and 
political 
platforms. 



HOMESTEAD LEGISLATION 

The homestead bill, or the granting of free homes from and 
on the public domain, became a national question in 1852. 
The Free Soil Democracy, at Pittsburgh, Pa., August 11, 
1852, in National Convention, nominated John P. Hale, of 
New Hampshire, and George W. Julian, of Indiana, for 
President and Vice-President, and adopted the following as 
the 12th plank or resolution in their platform: 

That the public lands of the United States belong to the 
people and should not be sold to individuals, nor granted 
to corporations, but should be held as a sacred trust for the 
benefit of the people, and should be granted in limited quan- 
tities, free of cost, to landless settlers. 

Thereafter it became a national question until its passage 
in 1862, and was in the platforms of political parties. It was 
petitioned for and against. Public sentiment was aroused. 
It was a serious innovation and would cause an almost en- 
tire change in the settlement laws. Instead of the public 
lands being sold for cash, for profit, or being taken, first, 
under the pre-emption system, which eventuated in cash 
purchases, they were to be given to actual settlers who would 
occupy, improve, and cultivate them for a term of years, 
and then receive a patent free of acreage charges, with fees 
paid by the homesteader sufficient to cover cost of survey 
and transfer of title. 

It was the third and most important step in the history of 
the public land system. Once adopted, no person could 
estimate its moral, social, and political effects.* 



* For the first step dealing with the public lands, see pp. 318-320. The 
second step was pre-emption. The first act relating to pre-emption was 



Diplomacy, Finance, and Politics 



503 



The public land system for eighty years prior to 1862 had Early his 



attracted the attention of the ablest men in the Nation. 
The chairmen of connnittees in Congress charged with its 
care were able and inquiring men. The third change and 
new system was the result of experience and investigation 
by some of the profoundest men of the age. . . . 

The rich and fertile lands of the Mississippi Valley were 
fast filling up with settlers. Agricultural lands in the 
Middle States, which, after the year 1824, were bought for 
$1.25 per acre, now sold at from $50 to $80 per acre. Former 
purchasers of these Government lands in the Middle, Western, 
and Southern States were selling their early purchases for 
this great advance, and moving w^est to Iowa, Wisconsin, 
Minnesota, and Missouri, and there again taking cheap 
Government lands under the pre-emption laws. 

The western emigration caused a rush — a migration of 
neighborhoods in many localities of the older Western States. 
Following the sun, their pillar of fire, these State founders 
moved westward, a resistless army of agents of American 
civilization, and there was a demand for homes on the public 
lands, and a strong pressure for the enactment of a law which 
should confine locators to small tracts, and require actual 
occupation, improvement, and cultivation. 

A fierce political battle now ensued, beginning in 1854, 
and continuing until 1862, the year of the passage of the law. 
The demand of the settlers was incessant and constant. . . . 

The essence of the homestead law and the amendments 
is embodied in the conditions of actual settlement, dwelling 

passed by Congress, March .3, 1801. This right is defined by Donaldson, 
The Public Domain, p. 214, in the following: "This pre-emption or pref- 
erence right thus first established was a step toward abolishing the sale 
of unoffered land, and giving a settler the first right or preference as 
against a person desiring to purchase and hold for investment or specula- 
tion. 

" The essential conditions of a pre-emption are actual entry upon, residence 
in a dwelling, and improvement and cultivation of a tract of land. The 
several pre-emption acts give a preference to the settlers. . . . 

" The pre-emption system arose from the necessities of settlers, and through 
a series of more than fifty-seven years of experience in attempts to sell or 
otherwise dispose of the public lands. The early idea of sales for revenue 
was abandoned, and a plan of disposition for homes was substituted." 



tory of 
public 
lands. 



Home- 
stead law. 



504 Readings in American llwtory 

on, and cultivation of tlic soil embraced in an entry. It 
gives for a nominal fee, equal to S34 on the Pacific coast and 
$26 in the other States, to a settler — a man or woman over 
the age of twenty-one years, head of a family, or a single 
person above the age of twent\-one years, a citizen of the 
United States or having declared an intention of becoming 
such — the right to locate upon 160 acres of unoccupied 
public land in any of the public land States and Territories 
subject to entry at a United States land office, to live upon 
the same for a period of five years, and, upon proof of a com- 
pliance with the law, to receive a patent therefor free of 
cost or charge for the land. Full citizenship is requisite to 
obtain final title. 

The present homestead law contains all of the beneficial 
features of the pre-emption act with the additions suggested 
by experience and the changed condition of national life. 
The eighth section of the act contains the substance of 
the pre-emption act in the matter of purchase. If the lo- 
cator desires to buy his homestead outright at the end of six 
months, he can, upon due proof, pay for his land at $1.25 or 
$2.50 per acre, as the case may l)e, which is called commuta- 
tion of a homestead. It contains one feature as broad in 
its terms and as beneficial in its principle as the domain it 
covers. It is as follows: 

No lands acquired under the provisions of this act shall, 
in any event, become liable to the satisfaction of any debt 
or debts contracted prior to the i.ssuing of the patent therefor. 

The homestead act is now the approved and preferred 
method of acquiring title to the public lands. It has stood 
the test of eighteen years (1862 1880), and was the outgrowth 
of a system extending through nearly eighty years, and now, 
within the circle of a hundred years since the United States 
acquired the first of her public lands, the homestead act 
stands as the concentrated wisdom of legislation for settle- 
ment of the public lands. It protects the Government, it 
fills the States with homes, it builds up communities, and 
lessens the chances of .social and civil (hsorder ])V gi\ing 



Diplomacy, Finance, and Politics 



505 



ownership of the soil, in small tracts, to the occupants thereof. 
It was copied from no other nation's system. It was orig- 
inally and distinctively American, and remains a monument 
to its originators. 

The total number of entries under this act from May, Number 
1862, to June 30, 1880 was 469,782; the area embraced of«°tries. 
therein was 55,667,044 acres. . . . 



GRANTS AND RESERVATIONS FOR EDUCATION 

For public or common schools: Every sixteenth section of 
public land in the States admitted prior to 1848, and every 
sixteenth and thirty-sixth section of such land in the States 
and Territories since organized — estimated at 67,893,919 
acres. 

For seminaries or universities: The quantity of two town- 
ships, or 46,080 acres, in each State or Territory containing 
public land, and in some instances, a greater quantity, for 
the support of seminaries or schools of a higher grade — esti- 
mated at 1,165,520 acres. 

For agricultural and mechanical colleges: The grant to 
all the States for agricultural and mechanical colleges, by 
act of July 2, 1862, anfl its supplements, of 30,000 acres, 
for each Representative and Senator in Congress to which 
the State was entitled, of land "in place" where the State 
contained a sufficient quantity of public land subject to 
sale at ordinary private entry at the rate of $1.25 per acre, 
and of scrip representing an equal number of acres where 
the State did not contain such description of land, the 
scrip to be sold by the State and located by its assignees 
on any sucii land in other States and Territories, subject 
to certain restrictions. Land in place, 1,770,000 acres; land 
scrip, 7,830,000 acres; total, 9,()00,000 acres. In all, 78,659,- 
439 acres for educational purposes under the heads above 
set out to June 30, 1880. 

The lauds thus ceded to the several States were disposed 
of or are held for disposition, and the proceeds used as per- 



Grants 
for public 
schools. 



Grants of 
land for 
univer- 
sities. 



Public 
lands for 
agricul- 
tural 
colleges. 



506 



Readings in American History 



Popular 
education 
prior to 
tlie Revo- 
lution. 



manerit endowments for common school funds. ... As an 
illustration, the State of Ohio has a permanent endowment 
for education called the " Irreducible State Debt," the result 
of the sale of all granted lands for education, of $4,289,718. 

The importance attached to education by the founders of 
the republic is shown by the provisions they made for its 
permanent endowment. Indeed, in the earliest settlements 
on this continent of the Anglo-Americans, measures were 
adopted in the course of education, not only as essential to 
morals, social order, and individual happiness, but as neces- 
sary to new and liberal institutions. Every immigrant ship 
had its schoolmaster on board, each .settlement erected its 
school-house, and the cultivation of the mind advanced with 
the culture of the soil from the landing of the Mayflower 
through our colonial history. 

Prior to the Revolution, in the different colonies the sub- 
ject of popular education had attracted attention, and pro- 
vision had been made for its practical realization. The 
theory of general education found no basis in the aristocratic 
social constitution of the mother country, while in the col- 
onies themselves were to be found influences decidedly hos- 
tile to it. The injustice and persecution, however, which 
had caused the immigration to this country, especially to 
the northern colonies, wonderfully neutralized the religious 
and political prejudices of our forefathers, and prepared them 
to accept doctrines of very opposite tendency. The compara- 
tive feebleness of aristocratic prestige in the forests of the 
New World permitted the development of the sentiment of 
independent manhood. The establishment of democracy 
was followed by the natural development of its principles, 
especially in the direction of popular education. 



Illinois 
Central 

grant. 



GRANTS OF PUBLIC LANDS FOR RAILROADS FROM 1850 TO 1880 

March 2, 1833, Congress authorized the State of Illinois 
to divert the canal grant of March 2, 1827, and to construct 
a railroad with the proceeds of said lands. This was the 



Diplomacy, Finance, and Politics 507 

first congressional enactment providing for a land grant in 
aid of a railroad, but was not utilized by the State. . . . 

The act of September 20, 1850, was the first railroad act 
of real importance, and initiated the system of grants of 
land for railroads by Congress which prevailed until after 
July 1, 1862. This grant gave the State of Illinois alternate 
sections of land (even-numbered) for six sections in width 
on either side of the road [present Illinois Central] and 
branches, being a grant of specific sections. 

The second section initiated the "indemnity" practice, or 
the granting of lands to the company in lieu of lands within 
the original grant occupied by legal settlers at the time 
of the definite location of the route, to be taken within fifteen 
miles of the road, and designated the method of disposition. 
The third section provided that lands of the United States 
within the grant limits should not be sold at less than the 
double minimum price ($2.50), being an increase of the price 
of lands from $1.25 to $2.50 per acre, or from single to double 
minimum. It provided for a forfeiture of the grant, with 
payment by the State to the United States for lands sold, 
in case of failure to construct within a certain fixed time. 
Unsold lands were to revert to the public domain, and pur- 
chasers from the State to have good title. This was pro- 
viding for default and reversion thereafter. 

The road was to be a public highway, to be used by the 
Government free of toll or other charges, and the mails were 
to be carried at prices to be fixed by Congress. 

This act extended like terms and conditions to the States 
of Alabama and Mississippi in aid of the Mobile and Ohio 
road which was to connect with the Illinois Central and 
branches — all of which roads are now established [1883]. . . . 

By an act of the Illinois legislature, of date February 10, 
1851, the Illinois Central Railroad Company was incor- 
porated as a body politic and corporate. . . . 

The road received from the State the lands granted by 
the National Government, viz: 2,595,053 acres. The State 
thus far [1883] has received in interest alone (the Illinois 



508 



Readings in American History 



Railroad 

grants, 
1852. 



Grants in 

other 

States. 



Railroad 
to the 
Pacific. 



Central Railroad's gross income being a perpetual source 
of income to the State) more than S3 per acre for the 
lands. . . . The income from this source in 1879 was over 
3325,477.38. . . . 

The Hannibal and Saint Joseph and Missouri Pacific Rail- 
roads were the roads built under the act of June 10, lSo2, 
donating to the State of Missouri certain lands. This act 
contained two features in addition to the main pro\isions of 
the Illinois grant, viz, a plan of disposition of the lands 
granted, and a clause directing the Secretary of the Interior 
to offer at public sale, at periods, at the double minimum 
price (.S2.o0 per acre) the reserved Go\ernment sections. . . . 

The series of grants to Iowa and other States in 1856, and 
the Minnesota act of 1857, were in the form and substance 
of the Missouri grants of June 10, 1852, with the change of 
"odd" for "even" in the description of the sections granted 
to the States. 

Prior to July 1, 1862, there had been constant agitation 
of the question of a railroad to the Pacific, beginning seriously 
from about the time of the settlement of the northern bound- 
ary by the Webster- Ashbiu'ton treaty of 1842, and the organi- 
zation of Washington Territory. ... 

After the admi.ssion of the State of California into the 
Union, in 1850, and up to 1802, a host of measures were 
proposed in Congress for a railroad to the Pacific Ocean. . . . 

The public having by petition evidenced their opinion to 
Congress, the Union Pacific Railroad Company was incor- 
porated by a direct act of the Congress of the United States, 
Jul}' 1, 1862. They were to build a railroad and telegraph 
line from the Missouri Ri\ er to the Pacific Ocean. This was 
a complete change in the system of land bounties to aid in 
the building of railroads. The grant was direct to the cor- 
poration, thus inoiding the established rule of using a State 
as a trustee and agent of transfer. It hail i)een fiercely con- 
tended prior to this that Congress could not create a cor- 
poration to do business in a State without the consent of the 
State. The company was given right of way, allowances for 



Diplomacy, Finance, and Politics 509 

shops, stations, etc., and in aid of construction "every alter- 
nate section of public land" by odd numbers, unless previ- 
ously disposed of, reserved, or mineral (coal and iron after- 
ward construed not to be reserved by this term), to the extent 
of five alternate sections per mile on each side of the road. . . . 

The reports of construction of land-grant railroads dur- Construc- 
ing the fiscal year ending June 30, 1880, show an aggregate {^°^°*^ 
of .359 miles, which, taken with those pre\'iousIy reported grant 
(viz, 15,071 miles), make a total of 15,430 miles of such roads ^^^ ^°^ 
distributed as follows: 

MILES 

In Alabama 822 

In Arkansas 620 

In California 1,228 

In Colorado 298 

In Dakota 196 

In Louisiana 152 

In Michigan 1,005 

In Minnesota 2,389 

In Mississippi 406 

In Missouri 703 

In Nebraska 832 

In Nevada 460 

In Florida 247 

In Illinois 705 

In Indian Territory 155 

In Iowa 1,672 

In Kansas 1 ,654 

In Oregon 227 

In Texas (where there are no United States lands, 

grants being made by State) 342 

In Utah 255 

In Washington 106 

In Wisconsin 553 

In Wyoming 400 

15,427 



CHAPTER XXVII 
INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL CHANGES, 1866-1886 

97. Strikes and Lockouts 

(Third Annual Report of the Commissioner of Labor, Carroll D. 
Wright, 9 passim. Washington, 1888.) 

Strikes The industrial disturbances which have been so frequent 

outs.°^ ' ^^ ^^^^ country since 1877 really establish the period as one 
of strikes and lockouts. A strike occurs when the employes 
of an establishment refuse to work unless the management 
complies with some demand. A lockout occurs when the 
management refuses to allow the employes to work unless 
they will work under some condition dictated by the manage- 
ment. In effect strikes and lockouts are practically the same 
thing, the disturbances simply originating with one side or 
the other in the case. . . . 

Commencing in 1880 with 3,477 [strikes] the number 
dropped in 1881 to 2,928; to a still lower point in 1882, viz., 
2,105; while in 1883 the number rose again quite near to 
that of 1881, or to 2,759. A rapid fall again occurred in 
1884, the number being 2,367, while in 1885 the number of 
establishments subjected to strikes was smaller than in any 
previous year named, except 1882, it being, for 1885, 2,284. 
In 1886 the number of establishments rose to 9,861, while 
in 1887 it has dropped back to less than 5,000. In 1887 the 
number for the first six months was, in round numbers, 
3,000, leaving 1862 establishments subjected to strike dur- 
ing the latter half of the present year. It thus appears that 

510 



Industrial and Social Changes 



ill 



the turning point was reached in 1886, and that it can be 
emphatically stated that strikes are now on the decline. . . . 



EMPLOYES INVOLVED IN STRIKES AND LOCKOUTS 


YEARS 


STRIKES LOCKOUTS 




Employes Striking and Involved Empoyes Locked Out 


1881 


129,521 655 


1882 


154,671 4,131 


1883 


149,763 20,512 


1884 


147,054 18,121 


1885 


242,705 15,424 


1886 


499,489 101,980 



Of the 22,304 establishments in which strikes occurred, 
the strikes in 18,342, or 82.24 per cent, of the whole, were 
ordered by labor organizations, while of the 2,214 establish- 
ments in which lockouts occurred 1,753, or 79.18 per cent., 
were ordered by combinations of managers. 

Success followed the strikes occurring in 10,375 establish- 
ments. The number of persons striking and involved in the 
successful strikes was 518,583. In 3,004 establishments the 
strikes were partially successful, and in these establishments 
there were 143,976 persons involved, while the whole number 
of persons involved in the 8,910 establishments where the 
strikes were failures was 660,396. . . . 

Strikes for an increase of wages occurred in 9,439 estab- 
lishments; of these the strikes in 6,229, or 65.99 per cent., 
were successful, while in 796, or 8.43 per cent., the strikes 
were partly successful, and in 2,414 establishments, or 25.58 
per cent., the strikes for this cause failed. 

In 4,344 establishments strikes were resorted to to secure 
a reduction of the hours of labor; in 1,055, or 24.29 per cent., 
success was the result; in 966, or 22.24 per cent., the strikes 
were partly successful; and in 2,323, or 53.47 per cent., the 
strikers were defeated. . . . 

The loss to the strikers for the period involved was 
$51,814,723. The loss to employes through lockouts for the 
same period was, $8,157,717, or a total wage loss to employes 



Number 
of success- 
ful strikes. 



Efforts to 
reduce 
hours of 
labor. 



Losses to 
strikers 
and em- 
ployes. 



strikes. 



512 Readings in American IliMory 

of $59,972,440. This loss occurred for both strikes and lock- 
outs in 24,518 establishments, or an average loss of $2,446 
to each establishment, and of over $40 to each person in- 
volved. . . . 
Earlier Having presented a detailed account of strikes and lock- 

outs occurring during the years 1881-1886, inclusive, it can 
not fail to be of interest to cast a glance toward the past, 
in order to discover, if possible, whether the phenomena of 
strikes and lockouts are novel in our industrial history, or 
whether they have had their beginnings in times and under 
conditions which have passed away; whether they are the 
result of the recent powerful organizations of workingmen 
or whether they are the outgrowth of discontent and dissatis- 
faction with e.xistent industrial conditions, or the natural 
result of industrial development. While it may truly be 
said that the strike, as a method pursued by workingmen to 
obtain the redress of real or fancied grievances, has only 
recently assumed such importance as to call for an investi- 
gation by the government of the United States, yet it is 
equally true that the strike is not a new weapon in the hand 
of the laborer, for isolated cases of strikes existed before the 
dawn of the present century. Though it is the very gener- 
ally accepted opinion that tlie disturbance in New York 
City in 1803, known as the " Sailors' strike," was the earliest 
example of the strike known in this country, this opinion 
may be authoritatively controverted by facts developed in 
the present investigation, which afford proof of a series of 
strikes among the boot and shoe makers of Philadelphia, 
beginning in 1796, and make it reasonably certain that a 
strike occurred among the bakers of New York City, as early 
as 1741. 

From these beginnings the practice of striking by employes 
who desired some concession regarding their wages, or were 
otherwise dissatisfied with the conditions under which they 
worked, grew until in 1835 strikes had become so numerous 
as to call forth remonstrant comments from the public press, 
the New York Daily Advertiser, on June 6, observing that 



Indvsfrial and Socio] Changes 513 

"strikes are all the fashion," and that "it is an excellent 
time for the journeyTnen to come from the country to this 
city." From this period up to the present time strikes have 
been common, their frecjuency depending upon the industrial 
conditions which prevailed. . . . 

As early as 1792 there was an association of journeymen 
shoemakers in Philadelphia, and in May, 1796 a strike or 
"turn-out" was ordered by this organization for an increase 
of wages. The strike was successful. . . . 

In November, 1803, a strike occuri-ed in New York City, 
which is commonly known as the " Sailors' strike," and which 
has been generally considered the first strike in the United 
States. A number of sailors who had been receiving $10 
per month demanded an increase to .114. The sailors formed 
in a body, marched around the city, and compelled other 
seamen who were employetl at the old rates to lea\e their 
ships and join the strike. The strikers were pursued and 
dispersed by the constables, who arrested their leader, and 
lodged him in jail — the strike terminating unsuccessfully. 



CHAPTER XXVIII 

POLITICAL CHANGES AND INDUSTRIAL EXPANSION, 

1880-1890 

98. Civil Service Reform, 1883 

January 16, 1883, Congress passed the "Civil Service Law," 
which in general still governs the Federal service. This act, usually 
known as the Pendleton bill since it was introduced into the Senate 
by Senator Pendleton, of Ohio, established the United States 
Civil Service Commission, consisting of three members. Since 
that time there has been a large extension of the "classified serv- 
ice," the name api>lied to positions which are filled by persons 
who have passed the competitive examinations. The classsified 
offices reported June 30, 1910, numbered 235,000, and those which 
were unclassified, or excepted, 133,000. — (Congressional Record, 
Vol. 14, Part I, pp. 204 passim, 47th Congress, Second Session, 
December 4, 1882- January 9, 1883.) 

Mr. Pendleton : The necessity of a change in the civil 
administration of this Government has been so fully dis- 
cussed in the periodicals and pamphlets and newspapers, 
and before the people, that I feel indisposed to make any 
further argument. This subject, in all its ramifications, was 
submitted to the people of the United States at the fall 
elections, and they have spoken in no low or uncertain tone, 
status of I do not doubt that local questions exerted great influence 

Service! ^^ many States upon the result; but it is my conviction, 
founded on the observation of an active participation in 
the canvass in Ohio, that dissatisfaction with the methods 
of administration adopted by the Republican party in the 
past few years was the most important single factor in reach- 
ing the conclusion that was attained. I do not say that the 

514 



Political Changes and Industrial Expansion 515 

civil service of the Government is wholly bad. I can not 
honestly do so. I do not say that the men who are employed 
in it are all corrupt or inefficient or unworthy. That would 
do very great injustice to a great rmmber of faithful, honest, 
and intelligent public servants. But I do say that the civil 
service is inefficient; that it is expensive; that it is extrava- 
gant; that it is in many cases and in some senses corrupt; 
that it has welded the whole body of its employes into a 
great political machine; that it has converted them into an 
army of officers and men, veterans in political warfare, dis- 
ciplined and trained, whose salaries, whose time, whose ex- 
ertions at least twice within a very short period in the history 
of our country have robbed the people of the fair results of 
Presidential elections. 

I repeat, Mr. President, that the civil service is inefficient, 
expensive, and extravagant, and that it is in many instances 
corrupt. Is it necessary for me to prove facts which are so 
patent that even the blind must see and the deaf must hear? 

At the last session of Congress, in open Senate, it was The 
stated and proven that in the Treasury Department at Q^part^'' 
Washington there are 3,400 employes, and that of this ment. 
number the employment of less than 1,600 is authorized by 
law and appropriations made for their payment, and that 
more than 1,700 are put on or off the rolls of the Department 
at the will and pleasure of the Secretary of the Treasury, 
and are paid not out of appropriations made for that pur- 
pose but out of various funds and balances of appropria- 
tions lapsed in the Treasury in one shape or another which 
are not by law appropriated to the payment of these employes. 
I was amazed. I had never before heard that such a state 
of affairs existed. I did not believe it was possible until 
my honorable colleague rose in his place and admitted the 
general truth of the statement and defended the system as 
being necessary for the proper administration of the Treasury TJtfc 

Department. -j 

Mr. President, we see in this statement whence comes that ^ 

immense body of public officials, inspectors, detectives, 



510 Readings in Amrriccm Ilisfory 

deputies, examiners, from the Treasury Department wIid 
have for years past been sent o\vy the States for the purpose 
of managing Presidential conventions and securing Presi- 
dential elections at the public expense. 

I hold in my hand a statement made before the committee 
which reported this bill, showing that in one of the divisions 
of the Treasury Department at Washington, where more 
than nine hundred persons were employed, men and women, 
five hundred and more of them were entirely useless, and 
were discharged without in any degree affecting the effi- 
ciency of the bureau. I do not intend to misstate any 
fact to-day if I can avoid it, and therefore I read from the 
testimony taken before the committee. Every gentleman 
can find it if he has not it already on his table. The state- 
ment to which I refer I read from page 121 of report of com- 
mittee No. 576: 

The extravagance of the present system was well shown 
in the examination of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing 
by a committee of which I was chairman. Of a force of 
nine hundred and fifty-eight persons five hundred and thirty- 
nine with annual salaries amounting to 8390,000, were found 
to be superfluous and were discharged. The committee re- 
ported that for years the force in some branches had been 
twice and even three times as great as the work required. 
In one division — 

I beg Senators to listen to this — 

In one division a sort of platform had been built under- 
neath the iron roof, about seven feet above the floor, to ac- 
commodate the surplus coimters. It appeared that the room 
was of ample size without this contrivance for all the persons 
really needed. In another division were found twenty mes- 
sengers doing work which it was found could be done by one. 
The committee reported that the system oi patronage was 
cliiefly responsible for the extravagance and irregularities 
which had marked the administration of the bureau, and 
declared that it had cost the people millions of dollars in 
that branch of the service alone. I'nder this system the 



Political Changes and Industrial Expansion 517 



office had been made to subserve the purpose of an ahns- 
house or asylum. 

In consequence of this report the annual appropriation 
for the Printing Bureau was reduced from $800,000 to 
$200,000, and out of the first year's savings was built the 
fine building now occupied by that bureau. . . . 

Mr. President, a Senator who is now present in the Chamber 
and who will recognize the statement when I make it, though 
I shall not indicate his name, told me that the Secretary of 
one of the Departments of the Government said to him, per- 
haps to the Committee on Appropriations, at the last session, 
that there were seventeen clerks in his Department for whom 
he could find no employment; that he did need one com- 
petent clerk of a higher grade, and if the appropriation were 
made for that one clerk, at the proper amount according to 
the gradations of the service and the appropriation for the 
seventeen were left out, he could, without impairing the 
efficiency of his Department, leave those seventeen clerks 
off the roll; but if the appropriation should be made the 
personal, social, and political pressure was so great that he 
would be obliged to employ and pay them, though he could 
find no employment for them. 

Need I prove, Mr. President, that which is known to all 
men, that a systematic pressure has been brought upon the 
clerks in the Departments of the Government this year to 
extort from them a portion of the salary that is paid to them 
under a system which the President himself scouts as being 
voluntary, and that they are led to believe and fairly led to 
believe that they have bought and paid for the offices which 
they fairly hold and that the good faith of those who take 
from them a portion of their salary is pledged to their reten- 
tion in their positions? 

I have said before upon the floor of the Senate that this 
whole system demoralizes everybody who is engaged in it. 
It demoralizes the clerks who are appointed. That is in- 
evitable. It demoralizes those who make the appointment. 
That also is inevitable. And it demoralizes Senators and 



Clerks 
with no 
employ- 
ment. 



Clerks 

forced to 

contribute 

portions 

of 

salaries. 



518 



Readings in American History 



Public 
office a 
trust 
from the 
people. 



Representatives who by the exercise of their power as Senators 
and Representatives exert pressure upon the appointing 
power. 

I am disposed to speak with due moderation and with 
respect for every gentleman who sits in this Chamber. I 
certainly desire in a statement like this not to make personal 
reflections upon anj'body ; but I say that this s\stem, perme- 
ating the whole civil service of the country, demoralizes 
everybody connected with it, the clerks, the appointing power, 
and those who by their official position and their relations 
to the executive administration of the Government have the 
influence necessary to put these clerks in office. 

Mr. President, how can you expect purity, economy, 
efficiency to be found anywhere in the service of the Govern- 
ment if the report made by this committee to the Senate 
has even the semblance of truth? If the civil service of 
the country is to be filled up with superfluous persons, if 
salaries are to be increased in order that assessments may be 
paid, if members of Congress having friends or partisan sup- 
porters are to be able to make places for them in public em- 
ployment, how can you expect Senators and Representatives 
to be economical and careful in the administration of the 
public money? . . . 

The bill has for its foundation the simple and single idea 
that the offices of the Government are trusts for the people; 
that the performance of the duties of those offices is to be 
in the interest of the people; that there is no excuse for the 
being of one office or the paying of one salary except that it 
is in the highest practicable degree necessary for the welfare 
of the people; that every superfluous office-holder should be 
cut off; that every incompetent office-holder should be dis- 
missed; that the employment of two where one will suffice 
is robbery; that salaries so large that they can submit to 
the extortion, the forced payment of 2 or 10 per cent, are 
excessive and ought to be diminished. I am not speaking 
of purely voluntary contributions. 

If it be true that offices are trusts for the people, then it is 



Political Changes and Industrial Expansion 519 



also true that the offices should be filled by those who can Offices to 

the most 
efficient. 



perform and discharge the duties in the best possible way. ^^^ ™°^'' 



Fidelity, capacity, honesty, were the tests established by 
Mr. Jefferson when he assumed the reins of government in 
1801. He said then, and said truly, that these elements in 
the public offices of the Government were necessary to an 
honest civil service, and that an honest ci\il service was 
essential to the purit}' and efficiency of administration, neces- 
sary to the preservation- of republican institutions. 

Mr. Jefferson was right. The experience of eighty years 
has shown it. The man best fitted should be the man placed 
in office, especially if the appointment is made by the serv- 
ants of the people. It is as true as truth can be that fidelity, 
capacity, honesty, are essential elements of fitness, and that 
the man who is most capable and most faithful and most 
honest is the man who is most fit, and he should be appointed 
to office. 

These are truths that in their statement will be denied 
by none, and yet the best means of ascertaining that fitness 
has been a vexed question with every x\dministration of 
this Government and with every man who has been charged 
with the responsibility of its execution. We know what is 
the result. Pass examinations have been tried; honest en- 
deavors have been tried; a disposition to live faithfully up 
to these requirements has been tried; and yet we know, 
and the experience of to-day shows it, that they have all 
made a most lamentable failure. 

We do know now that so great has been the increase of offices to 
the powers of this Government and the number of offices ^^^ '^^°^* 
under it that no President, no Cabinet, no heads of bureaus, 
can by any possibility know the fitness of all applicants for the 
subordinate offices of this Government. The result has been, 
and under the existing system it must always be, that the 
President and his Cabinet and those who are charged with 
the responsibility have remitted the question of fitness to 
their own partisan friends, and those partisan friends have 
in their turn decided the question of fitness in favor of their 



520 



Readings in Avterican History 



Effects of 

spoils 

system. 



partisan friends. The Adniinistnition has need of the sup- 
port of members of Congress in carrying on its work. It 
therefore remits to members of Congress of its own party 
the questions of appointment to ofHee in the various districts. 
These gentlemen, in the course of their pohtical hfe, naturally 
(I do not find fault with them for it) find themselves under 
strain and pressure to secure a nomination or a renomination 
or election, and they use the places to reward those whose 
friends and families and connections and aids and deputies 
will serve their purpose. . . . 

When I came to the Senate I had occasion more than ever 
before to make some investigation upon this subject, and I 
found to my surprise the extent to which the demoralization 
of the service had gone. I saw the civil ser\'ice debauched 
and demoralized. I saw offices distributed to incompetent 
and unworthy men as a reward for the lowest of dirty par- 
tisan work. I saw many men employed to do the work of 
one man. I saw the money of the people shamefully wasted 
to keep up electioneering funds by political assessments 
on salaries. I saw the whole body of the public offices paid 
by the people organized into a compact, disciplined corps 
of electioneerers obeying a master as if they were eating 
the bread of his dependence and rendering him personal 
service. 

I believed then, and I believe now, that the existing system 
which, for want of a better name, I call the "spoils system," 
must be killed or it will kill the Republic. I believe that it is 
impossible to maintain free institutions in the country upon 
any basis of that sort. I am no prophet of evil, I am not a 
pessimist in any sense of the word, but I do believe that if 
the present system goes on until 50,000,000 people shall 
have grown into 100,000,000, and 140,000 officers shall have 
grown into 300,000, with their compensation in proportion, 
and all shall depend upon the accession of one party or the 
other to the Presidency and to the executive functions, the 
Presidency of the country, if it shall last in name so long, 
will be put up for sale to the highest bidder, even as in Rome 



Political Changes and Industrial Expansion 521 

the imperial crown was put up to those who could raise the 
largest fund. 

I beg gentlemen to believe that whatever I may have said 
as to the relations of parties I do not approach the question 
of the reform of the civil service in any mere partisan spirit. 
It was because I thought I saw this danger, because I believed 
that it was imminent, because I believed then as I do now 
that it is destructive of republicanism and will end in the 
downfall of republican government, that I felt it my duty 
to devote whatever ability I had to the consideration of this 
subject. It was that which induced me a year or two ago 
to introduce a bill which after the best reflection, the best 
study, the best assistance that I could get I did introduce 
in the Senate, and which, in some degree modified, has come 
back from the Committee on Civil Service Reform, and is 
now pending before this body. 

The purpose of this bill is merely to secure the application Purpose 
of the Jeffersonian tests, fidelity, honesty, capacity. The ^Lton" 
methods are those which are known and familiar to us all bill, 
in the various avocations of life — competition, comparison. 
Perhaps the bill is imperfect. If so, I am sure I express the 
wish of every member of the committee that it may be im- 
proved. There is no pride of opinion, there is no determina- 
tion, if suggestions of value are made not promptly to adopt 
them. There is no disposition to do aught except to perfect, 
and in the best possible way, this bill, the sole object of which 
is to improve this great department of our Government. 

Mr. President, it is because I believe the "spoils system" 
to be a great crime, because I believe it to be fraught with 
danger, because I believe that the highest duty of patriot- 
ism is to prevent the crime and to avoid the danger, that I 
advocate this or a better bill if it can be found for the im- 
provement of the civil service. . . . 

Mr. Hnirlcii: Mr. President, this is "a bill to regulate and Evils of 
improve the civil service of the United States." It is not a sygte^m, 
new subject, nor is the bill itself in its essential particulars 
new to the Senate or to the public. Something is to be done 



522 



Readings in American History 



Removals 
of former 
Presidents. 



Methods 
of securing 
appoint- 
ments. 



upon this subject. Beyond all manner of question there is 
something to be done. The experience of this country as 
to the evils of the existing system, the experience of other 
countries in the trial of improved systems and aside from 
any evils that exist among us, the extraordinary growth of 
this country render the continuance of the present system 
utterly impossible. Ail these things combined, with a 
stronger and stronger manifestation of public sentiment 
from year to year, show, as I said, that something is to be 
done. 

When our country began with what I may call the present 
system, which is a lack of system, there were 350,000 square 
miles of territory; there are now 4,000,000 square miles. 
There were 3,000,000 of people; there are now 55,000,000 of 
people, or will be by next June, and there has been an addi- 
tion of 25 States. In 1801 there were 906 post-offices; there 
are now 44,848. There were 69 custom-houses; there are 
now 135. The revenues were less than $3,000,000; now 
they are $400,000,000. Our ministers to foreign countries 
were 4; they are now 33. Our consuls were 63; they are 
now 728. A thousand men then administered the Govern- 
ment; it now requires more than 100,000. ... 

Here are some figures which have been made familiar 
(luring the discussion of this question. Washington made 
only nine removals, and all for cause; John Adams only 
nine, and none, it would seem, by reason of political cause; 
Jefferson only thirty-nine, and none of them, as he declared, 
for political reasons; Madison only five; Monroe only nine; 
John Quincy Adams only two, and all for cause. In general 
the Government was very honestly and admirably admin- 
istered. . . . 

The man who is less efficient than his fellows, conscious 
that he has less of character or of ability, or of both, than they, 
is the man who is almost certain to have the largest pile of 
papers in support of his position. And thereby it becomes 
exceedingly difficult to remove him. More persons are 
needed for the same labor than there would be under some 



Political Changes and Industrial Expansion 523 

ideal system, I do not say what. We can imagine that if 
they were appointed purely for efficiency and character and 
maintained for that, fewer persons — I do not pretend to 
say how many, because no man knows; the estimates are 
quite at random; some say a quarter less, some say a half — 
would do the work equally well. 

Moreover there is unnecessary expense. The salaries Spoils 
must be kept higher in accordance with obvious laws of econ- more*" 
omy, because people will not enter into an uncertain service costly, 
for the price they would be willing/ to take if they were 
guaranteed long continuance, or life service. A young man 
who comes here for one, two, three, four, or five years is very 
hungry indeed to get his ten, twelve, or fourteen hundred 
dollars a year. If he had any guarantee of long service, or 
of service during good behavior (and absolutely no minute 
longer than that), there would be an abundance of young men 
of capacity willing to come here and begin at six, seven, 
eight, or nine hundred dollars a year, trusting to a well- 
graded system for promotion to nine, ten, eleven, or twelve 
hundred dollars, as they continued in the service. Our 
present system is therefore, in that sense, wasteful and ex- 
travagant. 

There is another matter upon which I need not dwell in Burdens 
this audience, and that is the torment of the legislative °^ors.'^" 
branch. Senators know this well. I am happy to say I 
know a little less of it than some of my neighbors ; but those 
who represent large States, especially if they are within easy 
reach of Washington, deser\'e our commiseration and should 
every Sunday, in the old fashion of New England, ask for 
the prayers of the congregation. Their desks are piled with 
letters, from scores upon scores, and their constituents some- 
times stand in their corridors in the same proportions. How 
large a share and how painful a share of our troubles and 
anxieties are due to this matter of office-seeking, we all know 
too well. We are all under the necessity of hearing innumer- 
able applications for office, of reading and preparing papers 
that will sustain them, of calling in person, and perhaps re- 



524 Readings in American Hidory 

peatedly, to enforce applications, of writing innumerable 
letters in reference to the matter; of re-enforcing the support 
that an employe has; or of seeking to restore those who are 
discharged in times of reduction or for an alleged or a real 
falling below the standard, or dischargetl perhaps to gi\e 
place to a protege of some more fa\ored or more ardent 
politician. 

We listen to the appeals of the utterly destitute. The 
widow comes here whose husband has been a long time a 
clerk or public servant somewhere, and it is impossible not 
to sympathize, it is impossible not to say that it would be 
reasonable, if she were well qualified, that she should have a 
clerkship. She has a dependent family; she has perhaps 
dependent relatives. You know there are scattered about 
these Departments many who are the children of men well- 
known in the public service of the United States and among 
whose honors it was that they went out of that ser\ice penni- 
less, whose misfortune it was that they left dependent rela- 
tives. No man can say, " I will close my eyes and shut my 
ears to these appeals." He can not do it. He may put 
himself upon the cold ground that " it is my duty to be study- 
ing public measures, to be reading and thinking about and 
preparing for the great measures that concern the whole 
country"; but he comes up from his breakfast table and finds 
his room full of cases that he must at least hear. 

Nor is this a matter that embarrasses one party alone. 
I have known gentlemen — yes, I see one now in the Chamber 
not a member of my own party, whom I have heard cry 
out against the burden, the painful labor that pained and 
oppressed him, and in the vexation of the moment declare 
that he would lea\e this Hall and go back to his farm and 
his happy home. There is something wrong about all this. 
This Government is not running a great charitable establish- 
ment; and yet if it is to employ people in subordinate posi- 
tions you will say that equitably nobody has a better claim 
than a widow, or daughter, or sister, or brother of some 
old-time public servant whose family for many years has 



Political Changes and Inrhstrial Expansion 525 

been accustomed to the service of the United States, knows 
what it is, and can discharge the duties well; or better than 
the dependent relative of some faithful soldier. . . . 

Every Secretary of the Treasury will tell you and every 
Cabinet officer in the larger Departments will tell you that 
for the first few months of an Administration, or the first 
few weeks or months of his administration if it begins in the 
middle of a Presidential term, he is utterly overwhelmed 
morning, noon, and night by applications for office, even 
down to the messengerships and to the appointments among 
the charwomen. They will not be put off. They wait dur- 
ing his breakfast; the^' catch him when he leaves his office; 
they follow him until his bedtime. And this is the American 
Republic of 55,000,000 of people, that rightly boasts of a 
great, free, and true, and wise goxernment. We must quit. 
We have an excellent opportunity to quit it b^' adopting a 
very simple, very plain, and general bill that is proved to be 
practical by indisputable experience. 

I do not tell Senators that if we do not do this somebody 
else will before long. W^e know that it has come to be a well- 
nigh universal demand of the thoughtful people of the coun- 
try; it enters into nearly every political convention of any 
description. The demand is reiterated by every President. 
President Grant tried it in good faith; Mr. Hayes tried 
it; Garfield desired and promised it, and President Arthur 
has given us an admirable invitation to follow in the right 
path. . . . 



Columbus 
lands on 
the coast 
of Porto 
Rico. 



Little 

progress 

under 

Spanish 

rule. 



CHAPTER XXIX 
THE SPANISH-AMERICAN WAR, 1898 

99. Porto Rico Under the American Flag 

Doctor Lyman Abbott, editor of the Outlook, in the year 1909 
visited Porto Rico in order to investigate conditions there. He con- 
versed with representative men of various classes and o])inions, law- 
yers, judges, teachers, sugar-planters, coffee-planters, politicians of 
both parties, with men who were pro-American and others who were 
anti-American, with Catholics and with Protestants. It was his 
desire to get the views of the islanders themselves, and as a conse- 
quence he conferred but little with Americans. — (The Outlook, 
Vol. 92, pp. 451-462. June 26, 1909. Permission of The Outlook 
Company, New York.) 

In November, 1493, Columbus landed for water at Agui- 
dilla on the western coast of Porto Rico. A monument 
marks the spot where he filled his water-cans. A mile below, 
in the town subsequently built upon the shore of the sea, 
the villagers continue to this day to come night and morn- 
ing to this same stream to fill their water-cans. The water- 
works of Aguidilla in 1909 are practically identical with those 
of 1493. The fact is typical. The civilization of Porto 
Rico, under Spanish domination, remains as nearly station- 
ary as it is possible for civilization to remain in a progressive 
world. Save for one splendid military road across the island, 
and some fragments of incompleted roads at different points, 
the only means of access from the interior to the coast, or 
from one interior town to another, were trails traversable 
only on horseback, and often so narrow and precipitous as 
to be available only f(ir the surefooted and specially trained 
ponies of the island. The sugar-mills were small and of 

520 



The Spanish- American War 527 

ancient pattern, and the sugar cultivation primitive; for- 
eign capital feared to invest where government afforded no 
confident assurance against revolution. The so-called coffee 
plantations were fields of wild bushes, comparative to the 
blueberry lots in Maine, with a product of two and a half or 
three hundred weight to the acre, as against twice that 
amount in Brazil and three times that amount in Costa 
Rica. One regular Spanish steamer a month and an occa- 
sional and irregular steamer from France or Germany sup- 
plied all the commercial facilities that were required. 
Schools in the rural regions there were none; they were few 
and inadequate in the large towns; I believe there was not 
a single building erected specifically for school purposes. 
The Government, until nearly the close of the nineteenth 
century, was feudal despotism in which the people had little 
nominal and no effective part. The religion, that of the 
Spanish Roman Catholic Church, was ascetic and ceremonial. 
Protestant and Roman Catholic have united in assuring me 
that probably not over two per cent, of the population at- 
tended church. Their religious scruples were satisfied by 
annual or semi-annual attendance on special feast days, or 
on the rare occasion of a visitation to the town by the Roman 
Catholic bishop, when the whole population turned out to 
greet him, the parents bringing their children for baptism or 
confirmation, or coming to have a long-delayed marriage 
ceremony pronounced for them after a score of years of 
practical and entirely loyal but wholly unconventional 
wedlock. 

Such was the condition of the island, jogging along on From 
the whole contentedly under the domination of the most [o^democ'- 
antiquated feudal government in Christendom, when it racy, 
woke up one morning to find itself suddenly passed over to 
the control of the most modern and the most democratic 
of governments. How to adjust sixteenth-century habits 
to twentieth-century ideals is the problem which it has been 
given America to solve. It is a cause for self-gratulation 
that whatever mistakes have been made by America's offi- 



528 



RcadiiKjfi ill Aincrican Ulslonj 



Not at- 
tempting 
to Ameri- 
canize the 
island. 



Govern- 
ment of 
Porto 
Bico. 



Porto 
Rico 
prosper- 
ous under 
American 
rule. 



cial representatives here, they are conscientious and in- 
teUigent, and are going about the work which has been 
intrusted to them in a very wise fashion. They are not 
attempting to Americanize the island; to convert it into a 
Massachusetts, a South CaroHna, or a Colorado. They are 
giving to the islanders what our ancestors gave to us — just 
laws justly administered, a free press, free speech, free 
schools, and free religion — and are leaving the islanders, 
under temporary guidance and lessening restraint, but with 
very considerable financial assistance, to work out their own 
self-development as we have worked out ours. 

The Government may be briefly described, as to its gen- 
eral features, in a paragraph. The chief executive of the 
island is a Governor-General appointed by the President. 
There is an Executive Council of eleven, five of whom are 
required by law to be Porto Ricans, six of whom are in fact 
Americans. These six are also the heads of the chief exec- 
utive departments. This bod}' is also the Senate. There 
is a House of Delegates, elected by universal suffrage, which 
corresponds to our House of Representatives. There can 
be no legislation without the approval of both these bodies. 
No legislation, therefore, is possible v.ithout the approval of 
the Porto Ricans, as represented by their elected House and 
the approval of at least one American in the appointed 
Executive Council. 

What have been the results of ten years of American occu- 
pation under this system of government? And what do 
the Porto Ricans themselves think of these results? . . . 

That the islanders are in a more prosperous condition than 
they have ever been under Spanish rule was the testimony 
of every one with whom I talked; there was not a single 
exception. . . . The old-time sugar-mills have been sup- 
planted by those of newer and better construction, one of 
them being said to be the largest sugar-mill in the world. 
The one monthly Spanish steamer has been replaced by 
fourteen monthly American steamers. In some agricultural 
sections land has risen in value from ten to one hundred 



The Spanish- American ]]^ar 529 

dollars an acre; in the vicinity of San Juan the increase has 
been much greater; nowhere have land values fallen. Wages 
have generally increased. Roads have been built in every 
part of the island, so that now there is no township that has 
not a good automobile road to the sea, and in a few years 
all the towns will be similarly connected with each other. 
Bridges are gradually taking the place of fords and ferries, 
which rains not infrequently made unusable. Wherever the 
road has gone the cost of transportation has been materially 
decreased, in one specific instance from a former charge of 
a dollar a hundredweight to twenty-five cents or less. Along 
these roads civilization finds its way, so that as one ob- 
servant resident informed me, a year after a road is opened 
any one can see the improvement in sanitary conditions, 
bodily health, character and quality of clothing, and large- 
ness and cheerfulness of life. Every town has its graded Education 
school, with school buildings which architecturally' might 
well serve as a suggestion for some of our town scliool boards; 
and rural, or, as we should say, district, schools are being 
rapidly multiplied throughout the country; while provision 
for teachers to carry on the work of education is made by a 
well-housed and well-organized normal school. An army 
surgeon. Dr. B. K. Ashford, has discovered not only the 
cause of the antemia which was the scourge of the islanders, 
and which previous authorities had erroneously attributed 
to insufficient food, but also a cure for it. Two hundred and Hygienic 
fifty thousand cases have been successfully treated, and under ^'^v^Q^^- 
the new law, if I understand its terms aright, every munic- 
ipality will be provided with a hospital with some means of 
local treatment for the sufferers, and every school will be 
required to give some instruction respecting sanitary habits 
necessary to stamp out this disease effectually and finally. 
An engineer from the Rocky Mountains has been brought to Irrigation, 
the island, and under his supervision, aided by a corps of 
American engineers, surveys are being conducted and plans 
perfected for an American irrigation scheme, which promises 
to relieve the sugar lands on the southern side of the island 



530 



Readings in American History 



Federal 
aid. 



No anti- 
American 
feeling. 



Desire for 
self-gov- 
ernment. 



Repub- 
lican 
demands. 



from the periodic droughts with which sugar cultivation has 
now to contend. And tlie reader should remember, what I 
think the Porto Rican sometimes forgets, that the expense 
of building these roads, of this medical service, of this irriga- 
tion plant, and for the most part of these schools, is paid out 
of the Federal, not out of the local taxes. 

I had heard that there was a strong anti-American feeling 
in the island, but I could not discover any signs of it. Those 
with whom I conversed either denied its existence or attrib- 
uted it to others who in turn denied it. . . . 

But there is practically unanimous feeling among all 
classes in Porto Rico for self-government. This is not due 
to any sense of practical injustice suffered under the present 
administration. I asked two Spanish judges their opinion 
respecting American law and American procedure. They 
both affirmed that the change from Spanish to Anglo-Saxon 
criminal law had resulted in better opportunity for self- 
defense to the accused and greater expedition in trial. I 
asked one prominent Republican, "What can America do 
that she has not done?" His prompt reply was, "Give us 
American citizenship." I asked one of the prominent Unistas 
the same question. In response he laid no emphasis on citi- 
zenship, but called for a Senate elected by limited suffrage, 
not appointed by the President; but he also had no legisla- 
tion to suggest from such an elected Senate. . . . 

One American put the Porto Rican view before me clearly 
and tersely in a parable. "When I was a boy," he said, 
"I knew that my father could make a better kite than I 
could make and could fly it better, but I wanted to make and 
fly my own kite." It seemed to me unfortunate that there 
was no one to explain to the Porto Ricans that they did make 
and fly their own kite; that all that the Americans asked was 
some voice in determining how a kite should be made and 
managed, the materials for which were furnished out of the 
Federal treasury. . . . 

The Republicanos are eager for immediate citizenship, 
desire a continuance of the present form of government. 



The Spanish-American War 



531 



with a large representation of the Porto Ricans in the Execu- 
tive Council, and look forward to eventual Statehood. The 
Unistas are only mildly desirous of citizenship, are urgent 
for an elective Senate, and look forward to autonomy under 
an American Governor-General in a relation analogous to 
that of Canada to Great Britain. If this describes correctly 
the tendencies of the two parties, as I think it does, I should 
be a Unista if I lived in Porto Rico. . . . 

The Porto Rican planter, merchant, or professional man 
is a gentleman of education, social culture, and practical 
ability. His home is unpretentious in its exterior, but within 
is furnished with every comfort. In social intercourse he 
furnishes an example of old-time courtesy from which modern 
Americans might well learn a lesson. He is a shrewd and 
successful business man. . . . These Porto Rican gentlemen 
invariably live in the towns. I do not think we saw in our 
eleven days and two or three hundred miles of automobiling 
anything that could be called a country residence of the 
better class, except possibly in the immediate suburbs of 
San Juan or Ponce. 

The peasant class is uneducated, ignorant, superstitious, 
good-natured, fixed in habits of life which it is extremely 
difficult to alter, temperate — I did not see a drunken man on 
the island — unsanitary through ignorance, but neither ragged 
nor dirty. Men, women, and children are characteristically 
industrious. . . . 

In a land where any man can build an adequate house in a 
month, where fuel is needed only for cooking and not much of 
it for that, where meat is not in great demand and fruit 
can be had for the picking, and where tailors' and dress- 
makers' bills are reduced to a minimum outside a small 
circle in the larger towns, fifty cents a day probably consti- 
tutes as comfortable a wage as does a dollar and a half in 
our more exacting and inhospitable climate. . . . 

But I cannot close this article without expressing my 
admiration for the Americans who have gone to Porto Rico 
as representatives of the American people to give to the Porto 



The 
Unistas. 



Porto 
Ricans of 
educated 
class. 



Tiie peas- 
ant class. 



Fniitful- 
ness of the 
land. 



Progress 
due to 
American 
leaders. 



532 Reading,'^' in American Hii^iory 

Ricans just and equal laws, sanitary and economic advan- 
tages, popular education, and liberty founded thereon. I 
wonder when I see what they have already accomplished in 
so short a time. I am stirred to indignation when I read in 
American newspapers political ciiatril)es that accuse them and 
the Nation which they represent of imperialistic spirit and 
tendencies. And I tender to them my sincere admiration 
for the courage, patience and ability with which they are 
carrying on the work of educating a community in the diffi- 
cult and unaccustomed art of self-government. . . . 






CHAPTER XXX 

THE OPENING OF A NEW ERA 

100. The Diplomacy of John Hay 

(The Outlook, Vol. 73, p. 271, February 7, 1913. With the per- 
mission of the publishers.) 

In 1898 the American Ambassador to England relinquished 
his duties there, having, in the words of one of the greatest 
English statesmen of our day, accomplished twice as much 
during two years as had any other American envoy during a 
longer tenure of office. Colonel John Hay left London to ac- 
cept promotion to the Secretaryship of State. The American- 
Spanish War had just come to an end. Our relations with 
England were scarcely closer than they are now with Ger- 
many. Despite Manila, our title to position as a world 
power was not yet conceded in Europe. In China, for in- 
stance, we played a part far below England's. The settle- 
ment of various and complicated issues after the war con- 
stituted a difficult task for our State Department; but the 
settlement was made with credit. 

In 1899 occurred the outbreak of the Boer War. To the 
world one principal result of that war was secured by the 
American State Department in persuading England to accept 
a general declaration that foodstuff's, though in transit to an 
enemy's ports, were not contraband of war imless there were 
evidence that the food was intended for the enemy's mil- 
itary use. l^p to this time, as it had suited her convenience, 
England had ranged herself on both sides of the question. 
Not only were American rights upheld by this decision, but 

533 



John Hay, 
ambassa- 
dor to 
Great 
Britain. 

Becomes 
secretary 
of state. 



American 
diplomacy 
during 
the Boer 
War. 



534 



Readings in American History 



The "open 
door" in 
China. 



American 
interven- 
tion and 
the Boxer 
uprising. 



in the future the weakest country, though at war with 
England herself, the greatest sea power, may invoke justice 
by this guarantee of good faith. 

In the beginning of 1900 our State Department won for 
the world that which England had long been trying to ob- 
tain from Russia, France, and Germany — the open door in 
China. Henceforth, whether territorial integrity be pre- 
served or not, it is agreed among the Powers trading with 
China that Chinese ports shall remain open on equal terms 
to the commerce of all nations. The joint agreement of 
the Powers, obtained at our instance, is justly regarded by 
the American Government as having all the solemnity of a 
treaty. 

Later in 1900 occurred the Boxer Rebellion in China. If 
it had not been for American intervention, the chief result 
to the world of that rebellion would have been the partition- 
ing of the Flowery Kingdom among the Powers. As an 
American Secretary of State had insured Chinese commercial 
integrity, so now he sought to preserve territorial integrity, 
despite sneers from every chancellery in Europe; the Chinese 
Government was treated by us, during the entire period of 
Boxer atrocities and the following siege of Peking, as a real 
government. The encouraging result, not only to China, 
but to all civilization, was apparent as soon as the smoke of 
battle had cleared away. Our task was by no means accom- 
plished, however. During the international discussion which 
followed, it was necessary for us to protest against and to 
put an end to the secret agreements which Russia was trying 
to impose upon a prostrate people. Following this, in dis- 
approval of the allies' outrageous punitive expeditions, the 
State Department advised the Administration to withdraw 
from China all United States troops, with the exception of 
the Legation guard. So little did supposedly intelligent 
European authorities understand this that the London 
"Spectator" actually described our course as "timid and 
vacillating," and the "Journal de Geneve" "mourned the loss 
to America of her influence in the concert of the Powers," 



The Ojpening of a New Era 



535 



Next, though opposed by all the Allies, who were urging a 
policy of unwarranted delay, the American Department of 
State secured the evacuation of China on the terms of the 
original protocol. Finally, there remains to the Department 
the hard task of inducing tolerate treatment in the matter 
of the Chinese indemnity. 

The Department's other notable recent efforts have been 
in the advancement of the cause of international arbitra- 
tion, first at The Hague Congress and then before The Hague 
Tribunal; the ratification of the Hay-Pauncefote Treaty, 
supplanting the outworn and outgrown Clayton-Bulwer 
Treaty; the representation to the Roumanian Government 
concerning its treatment of the Jews; the negotiation of 
reciprocity treaties with Cuba and Newfoundland and the 
Panama Canal treaty with Colombia; finally, the Hay- 
Herbert Treaty looking towards the settlement of the Alaskan 
question, the last of the great points of divergence between 
America and England. 

At the dinner of the Ohio Society in New York City the 
other evening, one of the speakers declared that Mr. Hay's 
name would stand in history alongside Webster's and Clay's, 
in view of services rendered to the legitimate enhancement 
of American power by an American Secretary of State. The 
steadiness with which our present Secretary has adhered to 
an unselfish policy, the candor, frankness, straightforwardness, 
above all, the scrupulous "squareness," of his methods, are 
in welcome contrast to the selfishness, secrecy, indirection, 
delay, and, wherever possible, the harshness of other methods. 
If America has become a world power, it is largely because 
of the success of the new American diplomacy, representing 
not so much material as ideal aims and ends. Humanity 
in general is freer and finer because such diplomacy exists. 



Hay 

secures 
the evacu- 
ation of 
China by 
the allies. 



Secretary 
Hay and 
interna- 
tional 
arbitra- 
tion. 



The place 
of Jolin 
Hay 

among 

American 

diplomats. 



530 



Reading-'i in American History 



Perma- 
nent 
arbitra- 
tion 
tribunal. 



101. Preserving the World's Peace 

In response to the resolution adopted at St. Louis by the Inter- 
parhamentary Union, President Roosevelt, on October 20, 1904, 
invited the nations which had taken part in the First Hague Con- 
ference to send delegates to another conference at the same place. 
During the summer of 1905, Emperor Nicholas II of Russia also is- 
sued an invitation to fifty-three nations to send representatives to 
such a conference. 

The Second Hague Conference met during the summer of 1907. 
Delegates from the United States were instructed to favor obli- 
gatory arbitration; the establishment of a permanent court of arbi- 
tration; immunity from seizure of private property at .sea; a clearer 
definition of the rights of neutrals, and the limitation of armaments. 
Before the end of the year 1908, one hundred and thirty-five arbi- 
tration treaties had been concluded. The United States was a 
party to twelve of these treaties. Most of the treaties bind the 
signatory powers to submit to The Hague Tribunal all differences 
in so far as they do not affect "the independence, the honor, the 
vital interests, or the exercise of sovereignty of the contracting 
countries, and provided it has been impossible to obtain an amicable 
solution by means of direct diplomatic negotiations or by any other 
method of conciliation." 

The following account of The Hague Tribunal was written bv 
Charles Ray Dean.— (The World's Work, Vol. IX, 5928 passim. 
With the permission of Doubleday & Page, publishers.) 

"The Nations have a great need for peace." This senti- 
ment of Baron de Stael expressed in his opening address as 
president of the first Peace Conference at the Hague has 
become doubly true now ; and as evidence of the fact, Presi- 
dent Roosevelt has made overtures to the governments of all 
the civilized nations for a Second Peace Conference. This 
action was taken at the instance of delegates from the parlia- 
ments of all the principal nations, and probably the most 
representative body that ever assembled — the Interparlia- 
mentary Union. So far as is known, si.xteen governments 
have signified their acceptance. It is hoped, therefore, that 
a conference of the nations will soon be held which will mark 
a decided step towards establishing and maintaining peace. 
It is probable that the scope and jurisdiction of the Permanent 



The Opening of a New Era 



53: 



Tribunal of Arbitration at The Hague will be considered, and 
widened, so that it may become still more effective and may 
more fully accomplish the high object for which it was created, 
though it has done excellent service since its inception. 

This Tribunal is undoubtedly the most august tribunal on 
earth; for before it the nations of the world voluntarily 
come to judgment. Its judges are among the most enlight- 
ened and distinguished of living jurists and statesmen, 
chosen by the heads of their respective governments because 
of their reputations for profound learning, probity and high 
moral character. And the court itself was created at the 
Peace Conference of 1899 by representatives of twenty-six 
of the leading governments representing more than 90 per 
cent, of the population, and practically all of the wealth, 
influence and civilization of the world. 

It was formed July 29, 1899. The countries represented 
were the United States, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bel- 
gium, China, Denmark, Spain, Mexico, France, Great 
Britain, Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Montenegro, 
the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Rumania, Russia, 
Servia, Siam, Sweden and Norway, Switzerland, Turkey and 
Bulgaria. 

An international court of arbitration has been the dream 
of broad-minded and peace-loving men for more than a 
century. As early as 1838 there was a popular agitation in 
the United States in favor of calling a congress to consider 
the establishment of one. In 1872. Mr. Sumner introduced 
in the Senate a resolution proposing one — to be clothed with 
such authority as to make it a complete substitute for war. 
In 1889 the idea took definite form. In that year the United 
States Government called a conference of representatives 
from the States of North and South America to discuss arbi- 
tration. Nothing practical resulted except that the proceed- 
ings furnished valuable information. At The Hague Confer- 
ence, called by the Czar in 1899, arbitration was the eighth 
and last topic in the programme of fliscussion, and was 
couched in these very general terms: 



Nature of 
tribunal. 



Perma- 
nent 
arbitra- 
tion 

tribunal 
long 
thought 
of. 



638 



Readings in American History 



Nature 
of court. 



Adminis- 
tration 
council. 



"8. Acceptance, in principle, of the use of good offices, 
mediation, and voluntary arbitration, in cases where they 
are available, with the purpose of preventing armed con- 
flicts between nations; understanding in relation to their 
mode of application and establishment of a uniform practice 
in employing them." 

The comprehensive instructions issued by Secretary Hay 
to our delegates enjoined them to propose a plan (which was 
furnished them with instructions) for an international tri- 
bunal and to use their influence to procure its adoption. 

The general plan of the tribunal follows a common-law 
model, indicating Anglo-Saxon influences. The court re- 
sembles somewhat the Supreme Court of the State of New 
York, the members of which never sit all together, but 
singly, or in groups, as the occasion may demand. All the 
Governments which originally signed The Hague Convention, 
and all those who shall adhere to it, are entitled to ap- 
point four members of the permanent court. The American 
members of the permanent court are Chief Justice Fuller, 
Hon. John W. Griggs, Hon. George Gray and Hon. Oscar 
S. Straus. Twenty-two governments have appointed repre- 
sentatives, though in some cases less than four. China, 
Turkey, Montenegro and Persia are without representation. 
The court, therefore, has, at the present time, a permanent 
bench of se\'enty-two judges, from whom are chosen one or 
• more arbitrators who sit as a court in each particular case. 

The arbitrators are appointed for six years, and may be 
reappointed. There are no salaries, but a liberal honorarium 
is paid to the arbitrators serving by the parties in a case. 
An administrative council, composed of the several diplo- 
matic representatives at The Hague has general charge of the 
central office (known as the International Bureau). This 
council has the power and the machinery for setting the court 
in action. The council is presided over by the Netherlands 
Minister of Foreign Affairs. Baron R. Melvil de Lynden 
is the present incumbent. 

The only officers of the court are the Secretary-General of 



The Opening of a New Era 539 

the Tribunal, corresponding somewhat to our clerk of the officers of 
court, and an assistant. The President, when the court ^^® ^°^'"*" 
enters, makes in French the simple announcement (all present 
standing), "Gentlemen, the court is open," and the business 
proceeds. The members of the court appear in ordinary 
conventional dress. French is the language usually employed 
in the proceedings of the court, unless a different one is 
stipulated by the parties to a case. 

No case can be brought before the court at the instance of origin of 
one government of its own motion against another. Both ^0^®^."^ '^^ 
parties must agree to submit the case. x\rbitrators are 
chosen according to a preliminary agreement between the 
parties, generally called a protocol. This protocol defines, 
among other things, the subject of the controversy and the 
extent of the powers of the arbitrators. Where there are 
three or more arbitrators, they choose one of their number 
to act as president, or umpire. A sovereign or the head of 
a State may act as sole arbitrator. Each side submits its 
case, or brief, with copies of all documents relied upon to 
prove its contentions. After a reasonable time counter- 
cases are filed by each side. Oral argument then follows. 

The jurisdiction of the Tribunal, as fixed by The Hague jurisdlc- 
C'onvention, is confined to legal questions and especially to ^J-jbu^^l. 
those involving treaties. But in the convention is a recom- 
mendation to the powers having international differences in- 
volving neither honor nor vital interests, and arising from a 
difference of opinion on points of fact, that they institute 
an International Commission of Inquiry to facilitate a solu- 
tion of these differences. 

The Tribunal is simple. Its present domicile is not one Place of 
of the listed "show places" at The Hague. Its location, meeting, 
even its existence, is hardly known to the average citizen. 
The hotel, as it is called, of the permanent court is on a com- 
paratively' retired residence street, No. 71 Prinsegracht. It 
is merely a spacious dwelling-house, with no outward sign ^ 
of its inward greatness. . . . 

Some day the Tribunal will move into a Temple of Peace, 



540 



I\radiii(/,s in American Ilidorij 



The 

United 
States 
and the 
tribunal. 



for wliich Mr. Andrew Carnegie has donated !>1 ,500,000. 
Thi.s money has been in the hands of the Netherlands Govern- 
ment for almost two years. A commission has been appointed 
to select a site and to arrange for international competition 
among architects for the building. A site has recently been 
secured, but no plans for a building have been submitted. 
The commission, however, has been securing from the sev- 
eral governments suggestions as to the general arrangement 
and probable requirements of a suitable building. This ex- 
treme deliberation is characteristic of the people of the 
Netherlands, who move slowly but certainly. It should not, 
however, be attributed to indifference to the generosity of 
Mr. Carnegie, but may have been caused in some measure 
by difficulties in adjusting differences of opinion between 
the national and the local authorities as to its location. 

The United States Government has, on every proper occa- 
sion, suggested, and urged resort to the Tribunal. But the 
docket of the court has not been overrun with cases. Only 
two controversies have actually been tried. Both of them 
were of American origin and were taken to The Hague 
through the efforts of the United States. 

The first involved a difference between the United States 
and Mexico — the case of the " Pious Fund of the Calif ornias." 
The government of Mexico had refused to continue paying 
interest on the Pious Fund — a fund created a century or 
more ago for the support of the missions of the Roman 
Catholic Church in Upper and Lower California. The Mex- 
ican Government had sold and converted into a trust fund 
property originally donated to the church for missionary 
purposes. It had for many years paid interest to the church, 
but finally stopped paying. The case was argued at The 
Hague. The award was in favor of the United States. 
Every material claim made was allowed. 

The second case was the \'enezuelan Preferential Treat- 
ment Case. Great Britain, Germany and Italy, known as 
the "Allies," had tried to enforce, by warlike measures, the 
collection of certain claims of their subjects against Venez- 



The Opening of a New Era 541 

iiela. By bombarding her forts, sinking her ships and block- 
ading her ports, these nations had compelled Venezuela to 
agree to set aside a certain fund to pay all the claims held 
by foreigners against her, when the amounts had been fixed 
by commissions chosen for that purpose. The citizens of 
eight other nations, however, had claims against Venezuela. 
These nations had not resorted to force to secure a settle- 
ment, though their claims were as just as those of the allies. 
There arose, therefore, a question whether, as claimed by 
them, the three allies were entitled to have their claims paid 
first out of the fund provided by Venezuela, by reason of the 
fact that they had, by their vigorous and forcible action, 
brought ^'enezuela to terms. 

Great Britain, Germany and Italy, on one side, were pitted 
against the United States, France, Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, 
Belgium, the Netherlands and Sweden and Norway on the 
other. It was the first case submitted to the Tribunal by 
the assent of a majority of the European Powers. Twenty- 
two men, all eminent in their several countries and many 
of them with international reputations as jurists, states- 
men and diplomats, appeared as counsel. The counsel for 
the United States were Hon. Wayne MacVeagh, formerly 
Attorney-General of the United States, Hon. William T. 
Penfield, Solicitor of the Department of State, and Hon. 
Herbert W. Bowen, United States Minister to Venezuela. 
The court, consisting of three arbitrators selected by the 
Czar of Russia by the agreement of the parties, was made 
up of two representatives from Russia and one from Austria- 
Hungary, Count Muravieff, M. de Martens and M. Tam- 
masch — all profoundly versed in international law and ju- 
risprudence. Arguments were made in four languages — 
English (which was the official language of tlie court in the 
ca.se), French, German and Spanish. Translations into Eng- 
lish were furnished bv the parties. . . . 

* The tri- 

One of the effects which the delegates to The Hague Con- bunai and 

ference hoped might flow from the establishment of the K^Jwth of 

. . . . . intema- 

Tribunal was the building up of a body of international law tionai law. 



542 



Readings in American History 



Interna- 
tional 
agree- 
ments to 
submit 
differ- 
ences to 
the 
Tribunal. 



growing out of the decisions handed down by the Tribunal. 
So far, the judgments, or sentences, as they are called, have 
not materially added to the principles of international law. 
This is due in part to the nature of the eases themselves. 

The Pious Fund decision places the findings of tribunals 
of arbitration on the same plane with judgments of tribunals 
created by States. This has a tendency to strengthen the 
general principle of arbitration. 

In the Venezuelan Preferential Treatment case the Tri- 
bimal decided that the three allied Powers which resorted 
to war against Venezuela were entitled to a preference over 
the creditor nations that refrained from force. 

The Tribunal has not yet met the hopes of its many 
friends. Some of the governments have shown a disposi- 
tion to avoid referring their diflferences to it. But, during 
the four years of its existence a remarkable forward move- 
ment has taken place in the thought of the peoples of the 
world, so that the advantages of international arbitration 
are now more generally evident. Each \ear great national 
and international peace conferences stimulate and increase 
a public sentiment in favor of arbitration as a means of pre- 
serving peace. A new and brighter day is dawning for this 
Tribunal. The Hague Convention of 1899, which created 
the Tribunal, has been a dayspring from which has emanated 
an astonishing number of treaties providing for the refer- 
ence of certain international differences to the Tribunal. 

Beginning in October, 1903, Great Britain and France 
signed a treaty binding themselves for a period of five years 
to refer "differences ... of a legal nature, or relating to 
the interpretation of treaties," to The Hague Tribunal, 
" provided they do not affect the vital interests, the inde- 
pendence or the honor" of the two States, and "do not con- 
cern the interests of third parties." There has followed this 
a series of practically identical agreements between Great 
Britain and Italy, Great Britain and Spain, France and 
Italy, France and the Netherlands, Spain and Portugal, 
the Netherlands and Portugal, Denmark and the Nether- 



The Opening of a New Era 543 

lands. And our own government, following the same lead, 
is negotiating similar treaties with all of the twenty-six 
governments which are signatories to The Hague Conven- 
tion. It is also understood that Great Britain and France 
are similarly engaged. 

^Ylth this striking showing, it seems certain that this 
Tribunal bids fair to realize the noble object of its creation 
— the advancement of the cause of peace, and "the estab- 
lishment of the principle of justice and right upon which 
repose the security of states and the welfare of peoples." 

102. Relations Between the United States and the 
South American States 

On July 23, 1906, the third International Conference of Amer- 
ican Republics met in Rio de Janeiro and continued in session 
until August 29. Besides the regular delegates, Secretary of State 
Elihu Root was present at the opening session. His address at this 
meeting, together with his visit to the leading cities, served to 
inaugurate a new understanding between these countries and the 
United States. The true American policy was set forth by Secre- 
tary Root in the following toast: "May the independence, the free- 
dom, and the rights of the least and the weakest be ever respected 
equally with the rights of the strongest, and may we all do our share 
toward the building up of a sound and enlightened public opinion 
of the Americas which shall everywhere, upon both continents, 
mightily promote the reign of peace, of order, and of justice in every 
American republic." Seci-etary Root went to South America as 
"Ambassador Extraordinary representing the President of the United 
States." In order to emphasize his official position, he travelled on 
an American war-ship. His addresses, made in the various cities, 
were intended to be an official declaration from the government of ^0 
the United States, and that position was ovUlined in his formal 
address before the Congress. — (Speeches Incident to the Visit of 
Secretary Root to South America, July 4 to September 30, 1906. 
Washington, Government Printing Office, 1906, pp. 3 passim. 
Speech of His Excellency Joaquin Nabuco, Ambassador Extraor- 
dinary and Plenipotentiarj' from the United States of Brazil to the 
United States of .America, President of the Conference.) 

American 
... I believe that you and the Conference understand separation 
each other fully. The periodical meeting of this body, ex- Europe, 



oU 



ReadiiKj.s in American History 



The 

Americas 
a iinit. 



First 
foreign 
visit of 
Secretary 
of State. 



clusively composed of American nations, assuredly means that 
America forms a political system separate from that of 
Europe — a constellation with its own distinct orbit. 

By aiming, however, at a common civilization and by try- 
ing to make of the space we occupy on the globe a vast neutral 
zone of peace, we are working for the benefit of the whole 
world. In this way we offer to the population, to the wealth, 
and to the genius of Europe a much wider, and safer field of 
action in our hemisphere than if we formed a disunited con- 
tinent, or if we belonged to the belligerent camps into which 
the Old World may become divided. One point especially 
will be of great interest for you, who so heartily desire the 
success of this work. The Conference is convinced that its 
mission is not to force any nation belonging to it to do any- 
thing she would not be freely prepared to do upon her own 
initiative; we all recognize that its sole function is to impart 
our collective sanction to what has already become unani- 
mous in the opinion of the whole continent. 

This is the first time, sir, that an American Secretary of 
State officially visits a foreign nation, and we all feel happy 
that that first visit was to Latin America. You will find 
everywhere the same admiration for your great country, 
whose influence in the advance of moral culture, of political 
liberty, and of international law has begun already to coun- 
terbalance that of the rest of the world. Mingled with that 
admiration you will also find the sentiment that you could 
not rise without raising with you our whole continent; that 
in everything you achieve we shall have our share of prog- 
ress. . . . 

You are now exploring political seas never navigated 
before, lands not yet revealed to the genius of your states- 
men and towards which they were attracted, as we are all 
attracted one to another, by an irresistible continental gravi- 
tation. We feel certain, however, that at the end of your 
long journey you will feel that, in their ideals and in their 
hearts, the American Republics form already a great political 
unit in the world. 



The Opening of a New Era 545 

Mr. Root: I bring from my country a special greeting to 
her elder sisters in the civilization of America. 

Unlike as we are in many respects, we are alike in this, similar 
that we are all engaged under new conditions, and free from P^'ooems. 
the traditional forms and limitations of the Old World in 
working out the same problem of popular self-government. 

It is a difficult and laborious task for each of us. Not in 
one generation or in one century can the effective control of 
a superior sovereign, so long deemed necessary to govern- 
ment, be rejected and effective self-control by the governed 
be perfected in its place. The first fruits of democracy are Many 
many of them crude and unlovely; its mistakes are many, j^'flr^^**^ 
its partial failures many, its sins not few. Capacity for self- democra- 
government does not come to man by nature. It is an art 
to be learned, and it is also an expression of character to be 
developed among all the thousands of men who exercise 
popular sovereignty. . . . 

Yet no student of our times can fail to see that not America Growth of 
alone but the whole civilized world is swinging away from ^Jq^™' 
its old governmental moorings and intrusting the fate of its the people, 
civilization to the capacity of the popular mass to govern. 
By this pathway mankind is to travel, whithersoever it leads. 
Upon the success of this our great undertaking the hope of 
humanity depends. 

Nor can we fail to see that the world makes substantial 
progress towards more perfect popular self-government. > 

I believe it to be true that, viewed against the background 
of conditions a century, a generation, a decade ago, govern- 
ment in my own country has advanced, in the intelligent 
participation of the great mass of the people, in the fidelity 
and honesty with which they are represented, in respect for 
law, in obedience to the dictates of a sound morality, and in 
effectiveness and purity of administration. Develop- 

Nowhere in the world has this progress been more marked nie°t of 
than in Latin America. Out of the wrack of Indian fighting emments 

and race conflicts and civil wars, strong and stable govern- "f ^^^'° 

. . . American 

ments have arisen. Peaceful succession in accord with the states. 



546 



Readings in American History 



No 

nation 

isolated. 



American 
ideal. 



The 

Hague 

Congress. 



people's will has replaced the forcible seizure of power per- 
mitted by the people's indifTerence. Loyalty to country, 
its peace, its dignity, its honor, has risen above partizanship 
for individual leaders. The rule of law supersedes the rule 
of man. Property is protected and the fruits of enterprise 
are secure. Individual liberty is respected. Continuous 
public policies are followed; national faith is held sacred. 
Progress has not been equal everywhere, but there has been 
progress everywhere. The movement in the right direction 
is general. The right tendency is not exceptional; it is 
continental. The present affords just cause for satisfaction; 
the future is bright with hope. 

It is not by national isolation that these results have been 
accomplished, or that this progress can be continued. No 
nation can live unto itself alone and continue to live. Each 
nation's growth is a part of the development of the race. 
There may be leaders and there may be laggards, but no 
nation can long continue very far in advance of the general 
progress of mankind, and no nation that is not doomed to 
extinction can remain very far behind. . . . 

. . . We wish for no victories but those of peace; for no 
territory except our own; for no sovereignty except the sov- 
ereignty over ourselves. We deem the independence and 
equal rights of the smallest and weakest member of the family 
of nations entitled to as much respect as those of the greatest 
empire, and we deem the observance of that respect the chief 
guaranty of the weak against the oppression of the strong. 
We neither claim nor desire any rights, or privileges, or powers 
that we do not freely concede to every iVmerican Repul)lic. 
We wish to increase our prosperity, to expand our trade, to 
grow in wealth, in wisdom, and in spirit, but our conception 
of the true way to accomplish this is not to pull down others 
and profit by their ruin, but to help all friends to a common 
prosperity and a common growth, that we may all become 
greater and stronger together. 

Within a few months, for the first time, the recognized 
possessors of every foot of soil upon the American continents 



The Opening of a New Era 547 

can be and I hope will be represented with the acknowledged 
rights of equal sovereign states in the great World Congress 
at The Hague. This will be the world's formal and final 
acceptance of the declaration that no part of the American 
continents is to be deemed subject to colonization. Let us 
pledge ourselves to aid each other in the full performance 
of the duty to humanity which that accepted declaration 
implies; so that in time the weakest and most unfortunate 
of our Republics may come to march with equal step by the 
side of the stronger and more fortunate. Let us help each 
other to show that for all the races of men the liberty for 
which we have fought and labored is the twin sister of jus- 
tice and peace. Let us unite in creating and maintaining 
and making effective an all-American public opinion, whose 
power shall influence international conduct, and prevent 
international wrong, and narrow the causes of war, and for- 
ever preser\'e our free lands from the burden of such arma- 
ments as are massed behind the frontiers of Europe, and 
bring us ever nearer to the perfection of ordered liberty. 
So shall come security and prosperity, production and trade, 
wealth, learning, the arts, and happiness for us all. . . . 

103. The Rich Kingdom of Cotton 

The economic advancement of the South during the past one- 
third of a century has been wonderful. The annual value of the 
cotton crop alone equals about twice the yearly output of all the 
gold-mines in the world. Some eight million bales are exported 
annually. Its export value is one-half that of all other agricultural 
products. 

The following narrative states some of the conditions connected 
with the rapid increase of prosperity in the South and the relation 
of cotton culture thereto. — (Clarence H. Poe, The Rich Kingdom 
of Cotton, in The World's Work, Vol. IX, pp. 5488 passim. With 
permission of the publishers, Messrs. Doubleday, Page & Co.) 

No plant, unless it be wheat, is of so much importance to impor- 
the human race as cotton. Destroy any fruit in the world, ^^?^°^ 
and men would grow other fruits. Let any tree l)ecome 



548 Readings in American Hiftfnri/ 

extinct, and other trees will take its place, and onr I)uilding 
would go on as before. Even if either corn or wheat should 
grow no more, we could grow enough of the other, supple- 
mented by rice, oats, barley, rye, peas, beans, and the like, 
to feed both man and beast with comfort. But for cotton 
there is no substitute that can be cultivated cheaply on a 
large scale — no substitute, animal or vegetable product, 
which can compare with it for cheapness. 

Nor is there any plant with a history more marvellous or 
more romantic — more suggestive of the legend and myth- 
ology of the Orient from whence it came. If Frank Norris 
had lived in the South instead of in California, what an Epic 
of Cotton he might have given us! Cotton, whose influence 
did most to bring us an alien race from Africa, and then did 
most to perpetuate in America the institution of slavery; 
Cotton, on which a "Dixie Land, the Land of Cotton," once 
built its hopes, while it waged a great war; Cotton, which 
helped the vanquished people to their feet again, and now 
bids fair to restore them to the proud position in wealth and 
industry which they held before the Civil War. 
Value of It is hardly too much to say that cotton is now the basis 

of the dominant industry of the world. In their primary 
forms, iron and steel products represent a value of only 
$1,700,000,000 yearly, while the estimated \alue of the 
world's annual output of cotton goods is S2,000,000,000. 
Twice as much cotton as wool is produced, and three-fourths 
of the world's cotton supply is grown in the southern section 
of the United States. Twice the world's total gold product of 
last year would have been required to pay southern farmers 
for lint and seed; three-fourths of the capital stock of all 
the national banks in the country would lia\e been inade- 
quate. Among our American export crops, cotton towers 
pre-eminent with $350,000,000 in value for the year ending 
June 30, 1903 (1904 would make a better showing), against 
less than $600,000,000 for all other agricultural exports. In 
other words, take all other animal and vegetable products 
exported any year — wheat, corn, barley, oats, rye, flour. 



cotton. 



The Open ing of a Neic Era 549 

meal, oatmeal, fruits, vegetables, liquors, tobacco, wine; 
cattle, hogs, horses, sheep; beef, pork, mutton; butter, 
cheese, canned goods, lard, oils, wool; timber, lumber, naval 
stores, etc. — the entire contribution, except cotton, furnished 
the outside world by every American farm, ranch and forest, 
from Maine to California, from Michigan to Texas, from 
Alaska to Hawaii — take all this, and, with the proceeds of 
one year's cotton and cotton-seed exports, and a safe mort- 
gage given on the next year's, the southern cotton-grower 
could buy the whole colossal aggregation and still have a 
surplus of more than $100,000,000 left as pin-money and as 
a margin of safety for the mortgage. 

For, much as cotton means to the United States, and much The 
as it means to the world, it means infinitely more to the twelve c°}f ^*°^ 
States and Territories of the South, in ten of which it is the 
chief farm product. Here cotton is the life-blood of com- 
merce, its condition the thermometer of trade. Every man 
talks cotton; every man has an opinion about the size of the 
crop; the weather conditions in Texas and throughout the 
Cotton Belt are subjects of general interest; the govern- 
ment crop report is read with closer attention than anything 
else in the newspapers. Well and truthfully did Henry W. 
Grady say in his tribute to the cotton plant: 

"The sun that shines on it is tempered by the prayers of 
all the people. The shower that falls whispering on its 
leaves is heard around the world. The frost that chills it 
and the dew that descends from the stars are noted, and the 
trespass of a little worm on its green leaf is more to England 
than the advance of the Russian army on her Asian posts." 

When cotton prices drop, every southern man feels the 
blow; when cotton prices advance, every industry throbs 
with new vigor. For the last five crops the South has re- 
rei\'cd nearly .1l;S00,000,000 more than for the preceding five 
crops, nearly twice as much money as is invested in all our 
American cotton mills. For the crop of 1903 alone she re- 
ceived $325,000,000 more than for the crop of 189S— a sum 
which, if equally divided, would give a surplus of S225 to 



550 Headings in American Hidory 

each of the 1,418,000 farms growing cotton, or S20 each to 
every one of the 16,000,000 inhabitants of the Cotton States. 
Small wonder that southern railways report heavier increase 
in earnings than lines in any other section of the country. 
Small wonder that the assessed valuation of southern prop- 
erty is now increasing three times as rapidly as in the decade 
1890-1900. Small wonder that bank deposits in the southern 
States from 1896 to 1903 increased one hundred and fifty- 
three per cent., while the increase for the rest of the United 
States was only ninety per cent.; and a preliminary state- 
ment which the Comptroller of the Currency has just sent 
me, shows that the increase during the last twelve months 
has been more than two and one-half times as rapid in the 
South as in the rest of the country. 
The new It is, in fact, a new South that we have. The factory, the 

^^^^ ' bank, the church, the school, the newspaper— all are bene- 
fited by the increase in prices paid for the South's great staple 
crop. The architect will tell you that he is building better 
houses than ever before; the furniture dealer will tell you 
that he is shipping more furniture than ever before; the 
manufacturer of implements and machinery will acknowledge 
that southern progress astounds him; the schools report 
greatly increasing numbers of pupils; and even the preacher 
says that, for once, his salary is paid promptly and in full, 
and that a sermon on foreign missions is now unprecedentedly 
effective. 

The social changes that prosperity will bring will remodel 
southern life. It will restore the country life again to its 
dignified place of the old time. For years, the countryman 
has been in the townsman's debt. Now the farmer has 
money to lend. This will, in time, bring a complete social 
change. 

"If cotton brings about ten cents for the next ten years," 
said a thoughtful business man in North Carolina to me the 
other day, " the South will again become, as it was before the 
war, the most prosperous section of our country. I know of 
no industry in the world that will yield larger returns, in 



The Opening of a Neiv Era 551 

proportion to the capital and the intelligence required, than 
cotton-growing at ten cents a pound." 

And the price bids fair to remain at the 10-cent mark. 
Excepting the two periods, 1840-50 and 1891-1901, it has 
never been less. If a 5,000,000-bale crop, in 1859, was 
marketed at 11 cents, why should not a 12,000,000-bale crop 
now bring 10 cents? With the increased demand for labor 
from railways and factories, there is now little prospect of 
pushing the production beyond 12,000,000 bales. 

But before we begin a discussion of the larger cotton prob- 
lems, it may be well to follow briefly the story of a cotton 
plant. 

Cotton is planted throughout the South just as soon as Growing 
danger of frost passes, this time varying from March 10th ^°"°'^- 
in Texas and Louisiana to May 1st in North Carolina. 
Except in Texas, the guano bill is enormous, commercial 
fertilizers costing North Carolina cotton growers alone 
nearly $5,000,000 each season. Of late years there has been 
more improvement in methods of planting than in any other 
phase of cotton farming. Formerly, one man and one horse 
opened the furrow; another man strewed the fertilizer; an- 
other man dropped the seeds ; and another man with a horse 
covered them. Now one machine, with one man and one 
horse, does all this work at once. A few days after planting, 
the long green line of two-leaved plants in each row begins 
its battle with grass — a long, thin line, for the cotton seeds 
are dropped only one inch apart, though later the plants 
are thinned out so as to stand 12 inches apart. Cotton 
begins to bloom when the plant is from five to eight weeks 
old — beautiful white blooms the first day, pink the next, and 
the third day comes the tiny green boll. Opening gradually, 
the boll shows four or five distinct lobes of cotton. Picking f. 

or harvesting begins in August in Texas and in September in 
the latitude of North Carolina. This work must be done 
entirely by hand labor, just as it was done in India a thou- 
sand years ago. In this part of the South, from 40 to 50 
cents per hundred-weight is paid for picking, while in Texas 



552 nrarJinr/ft in Avierirnn IJis^iory 

as much as one dollar is soinetinies paid. At seventy-five 
cents per hundred-weight of seed cotton — two-thirds of the 
weight being seed and one-third lint or fibre — the cost of 
picking is 2M cents per potind of lint, and this, a few years 
ago, was more than one-third the selling price. Now, how- 
ever, the seeds sell for enougli to pay the entire expense of 
picking. . . . 

Kinds of Of the farms in the ten Cotton States, in 1900, 48 per cent. 

farming. ^yere worked by owners, 20 per cent, by cash tenants, and 
31 per cent. l\v share tenants — showing a decrease for the 
decade of 15 per cent, in the percentage of farms managed 
by owners, a gain of 12 per cent, in the proportion worked 
by share tenants, and a gain of 33 per cent, in the percentage 
operated by cash tenants. Of share tenants there are several 
classes. Some rent land only, paying therefor one-fourth 
of the farm product; others, with land, stock, tools, and one- 
half of the fertilizer furnished, receive one-half the crop; 
while still others are content to give labor only for one- 
third of the yield. 

The relative decrease in the number of farms worked by 
owners during the last census decade must be attributed to 
the emigration of farm-owners to towns, as a result of the 
depression in cotton prices. With the turn of the tide in 
prices, one now finds abundant evidence of a similar turn in 
the tide of emigration. Young men of executive ability 
cannot overlook the new opportunities for money-making 
in cotton growing, and many will endeavor to re\ive the old 
plantation system of farming. On the other hand, farm 
lands have as yet advanced but little in value in proportion 
to their increased earning capacity, and man\' small farmers 
and tenants are seizing the opportunity to buy. " I can take 
any farm in my county and pay for it with two cotton crops," 
says a member of the North Carolina Board of Agriculture; 
and one farmer within a few miles of the writer's home has 
paid for his farm with one year's product; though this, of 
course, must have been done at a sacrifice of all home com- 
forts. Under these conditions, the proportion of tenants is 



Tfw Opening of a New Era 553 

likely to decrease during this decade, and the proportion of 
farms worked by owners — now 19 per cent, for negroes and 
58 per cent, for whites — to be correspondingly increased. 
Tenants will buy land, and non-resident owners will return 
and conduct their own estates. 

One of the largest cotton farms in North Carolina is owned A typical 
by Crossland & Everett, in Richmond County. This is ^^^"^' 
conducted by share tenants, who furnish labor, pay one- 
half the cost of the fertilizer, and receive one-half the 
crop. 

"Two-thirds of our croppers are white men with their 
families as labor," Mr. Everett tells me. "We make it a 
point to secure tenants who have families of boys, thereby 
having labor under their control. We specify in our agree- 
ment with tenants that the crop is to be planted, worked, 
and gathered under our direction. We stipulate also the 
amount of supplies they are to have each month, being care- 
ful that they do not consume as much as their labor is worth, 
thereby causing them to feel that, if they fail to comply 
with their contracts, they will be the losers. Thus they have 
an interest in the crop in excess of the advances made. We 
provide our croppers with comfortable houses; allow them 
to have garden, potato, and other vegetable crops for the 
use of their families; encourage them to keep cows, pigs, 
etc.; and thus have them feel that they are at home. Last 
year, they cleared, after paying all their crop expenses, from 
$100 to S200 to the horse; hence they are contented and 
work well. We ha\'e a good school, and the children, when 
not in the farm work, are in school from three to six months 
in the year. We have churches also, and they attend services 
and Sunday school regularly." 

Messrs. Crossland & Everett have kept accurate farm 
accounts for the past fourteen years, and the story told by 
their books shows the profit of cotton growing on ordinary 
farm land. Estimating the value of a good one-horse farm, 
with improvements, 81,000, the following is the average 
yearly expense as they fiiui it: 



554 Readings in A merican History 

Six per cent, interest on farm value, per year $00.00 

Taxes on same 10 . 00 

Wear and tear of mule ] 5 . 00 

Interest on value of mule 10 . 00 

One-half cost of fertilizer 110.00 

Tools, and keeping same in repair 15 . 00 

Repairs on building, etc 10 . 00 

Share of Superintendent's expense 25 . 00 

Ginning one-half of cotton 13 . 00 

Total $268.00 

To offset this, Messrs. Crossland & Everett find that the 
average production of cotton on each one-horse farm during 
the last fourteen years has been G,S50 pounds of Hnt, and the 
average price 7M cents. They receive one-half the crop; 
therefore, against expense of $268, including 6 per cent, 
interest, they have had — 

3,425 pounds of lint ® 7U cents $265 . 43 

One-half value of seed 62 . 57 

Total $328.00 

This shows a profit of twelve per cent, for the last fourteen 
years. Suppose, however, that cotton had averaged 10 cents 
per pound. Then we should have more than 19 per cent, 
on the investment. And the cotton crop of Crossland & 
Everett last year was sold for more than .S40,000. 
Large There are cotton plantations in Alabama, the delta of 

tions^^" Mississippi, and portions of Texas and Georgia that include 
as much as 30,000 acres under one management. These 
large plantations are conducted with perfect system, and, 
necessarily, in the most business-like manner. Every item 
of expense, even to the wear and tear of a wagon or the life 
of a mule or a horse, is accounted for by a system of book- 
keeping. Perhaps several commissaries are maintained, 
where the laborers get their necessities. One of these great 
farms employs a small army of men and women, and the 
year's profits, if the price for the staple is good, would pro- 
voke the envy of successful business men of the large cities. 



The Opening of a New Era 



555 



From what has been said, however, the reader should not 
infer that the bulk of our cotton crop is grown on .great 
plantations, as such is not the case. The average southern 
farmer produces only about ten bales per year. Other crops 
are grown, of course, in addition to cotton. It is this small 
farmer, with 50 to 200 acres to call his own, living under his 
own vine and figtree, working himself, and with children 
large enough to do most of the hoeing and picking, who is 
getting in the fullest degree the new-found wealth in cotton 
growing that means so much to the prosperity of the South. 

Probably most persons outside the South think that 
negroes grow most of our cotton crop ; but this is by no means 
true. Of the 1,418,000 cotton farms reported in 1900, 
849,000 were operated by whites. White farmers cultivated 
14,616,000 acres, and negro farmers 9,650,000 acres. The 
whites owned 58 per cent, of the farms operated by them, 
while the percentage of colored owners was only 19. " Clearly 
the central feature of the southern farm life of the negro 
race," says Prof. W. E. DuBois, "is the tenant class — this 
half-million black men who hire farms on various terms, 
and a large proportion of whom stand about midway between 
slavery and ownership." 

The average negro farmer of the more thriftless sort can 
hardly be said to be even "half way between slavery and 
ownership." Under the crop-lien law, at the beginning of 
each season he mortgages his yet unplanted crop to the 
merchant in order to get supplies to live on through the year. 
Then his recklessness, coupled with the exorbitant rate of 
interest, leads him to buy more than his crop pays for; and 
the usual condition of the merchants' books at marketing 
time has been pretty accurately set forth in the popular 
negro couplet: 

"Naught's a naught; figger's a figgor: 
All for the white man, and none for the nigger." 

The next year this story is repeated, and the next, and the 
next. But now the crop mortgage is disappearing rapidly 



Average 
farms. 



Negro 
labor. 



556 



Readings in American History 



Successful 
negro 
cotton- 
growers. 



Ginning 
and baling 
cotton. 



before the advancing prices of cotton. Many white farmers, 
as well as colored, have been the sUiacs of this crop-lien 
system. "And the pathos of the lien-farmer," as has been 
well said, " is that he is always only twelve months from free- 
dom. Better that he shonld eat one coarse meal a day, and 
wear his cheap clothes to tlie last frazzle of decency, and, by 
one unremitting struggle, break his chains." 

But not all the negroes are of the impoverished class. 
The first bale of cotton marketed in North Carolina this year 
was grown by a negro, and, for the last seven years, the first 
bale of Georgia cotton has come from the farm of Deal Jack- 
son, Dougherty County's leading negro cotton grower. His 
story is an interesting one. Eighteen years ago, he borrowed 
SI, 000 to buy a run-down farm, giving a mortgage on the 
place as security. He has since made purchases of adjacent 
farms, and now has 2,000 acres of the most fertile land in 
Georgia. He and his family rim nine plows, and his tenants 
thirty -six. 

Until Eli Whitney invented the cotton-gin in 1793, the 
work of separating the seed of upland cotton from the lint 
was done entirely by hand; and it is said that the most ex- 
pert picker could not clean more than three to five pounds 
of seed cotton a day. The essential features of the Whitney 
gin have never been supplanted or improved upon; but, in 
recent years, gin manufactiu'ers have perfected the machiner\", 
until the modern gin sucks the seed cotton from the farm 
wagon, divides the lint and the seed, and returns the lint 
cotton baled, with its seed separated, to the same wagon 
within an hour. These new gins ha\e an average capacity 
of thirty bales a day. Under the old system, the completion 
of two bales in a day was regarded as an achie\ement. 

After the lint cotton is separated from the seed, it is 
packed in bales of an average weight of about wOO pounds. 
Endless trouble to shippers and exporters has been caused 
by the utter lack of uniformity in the size of cotton bales. 
There is great need of a better baling .system. Mr. Edward 
Atkinson, one of our highest American authorities on ct.tton 



Thr Opening of a Nnv Era 557 

subjects, has declared that cotton is " tlie most barbarously 
handled eotrnnercial product in tlie world." Besides the 
lack of uniformity in the size of the bales, gins at present are 
able to pack cotton to the average density of only fourteen 
poimds per cubic foot. Every bale not sold to local mills, 
therefore, must be sent to some cotton compress and the 
size reducefl two-thirds before it can be exported. 

The round-lap cylindrical bale, introduced a few years ago, 
was hailed by many as filling the long-felt want for a better 
system; but the beginning of the end came recently when 
the company that owns the patent was thrown into the 
hands of a receiver, with liabilities much in excess of the 
assets. The round bale failed, partly because the world 
had been too long accustomed to the square form to take 
kindly to a change; partly because round bales do not pack 
so compactly as square bales, just as logs recjuire more space 
than plank; and partly because the company which owned 
the rounfl-bale presses threatened to create a monopoly, 
only leasing its machinery, and refusing to sell it outright 
on any terms. 

Just now another baling system — the Whitman — is com- 
ing into prominence, but not enough is known of it as yet 
to justify a final word as to its merits. Its promoters claim 
that it packs cotton at the gin to such density as to do away 
with the necessity for recompressing. This company pro- 
poses to sell its machinery outright, thus avoiding the blunder 
of the round-lap promoters. 

In marketing the cotton crop, there has been in recent Market- 
years a marvellous gain in directness and economy. For- '°^ cotton, 
merly, the farmer sold to his merchant at the nearest town; 
the merchant sold to the commission merchant in the city; 
the commission merchant sold to the dealer at the seaport; the 
seaport dealer sold to the New York exporter; the New 
\ork exporter sold to Liverpool; and Liverpool sold to Man- 
chester. Now all this is changed — how greatly changed will 
be seen from the report of a cotton-exporting house which 
handles more than 300,000 bales each season. 



558 



Readings in American History 



Possibility 
of growing 
more 
cotton. 



Waste in 

cotton 

culture. 



" The old method of the planters, of consigning their cotton 
to factors for sale," said the manager of an exporting house, 
"is almost wholly abolished, intermediary charges having 
been gradually overcome through competition, and the pro- 
ducer and the consumer are thus brought closer together; 
and the farmer gets the benefit of this advantage. The 
cotton is now bought on the plantations, or at the railway 
stations, throughout the whole cotton belt, by the repre- 
sentatives of large exporting houses and by the mills. Our 
firm employs more than one hundred buyers for this purpose, 
and the cotton is shipped daily to the port, where it is 
expeditiously sampled, classified, weighed, compressed, and 
loaded upon ships for foreign ports, with almost incredible 
swiftness. We have had a train loaded with cotton fifty 
miles from port at seven in the morning, and by seven o'clock 
of the same day — in the evening — it has been stowed on 
board a foreign ship and bills of exchange drawn and nego- 
tiated!" 

The general opinion in the South is that we have now 
entered on a long era of high prices for cotton, and that the 
supply is not likely to become large enough to depress them, 
to their former level. The South might increase its acreage, 
but the scarcity of labor makes this impracticable. Texas 
and Mexico might add much to the total supply, but the 
boll-weevil now stands in the way of any considerable in- 
crease there. Mr. Edward Atkinson predicts that, for fifty 
years to come, the South will have a Airtual monopoly of 
the world's cotton supply. During the Civil War Mr. Atkin- 
son imported cotton from every foreign country now men- 
tioned as a probable competitor of the South, and his verdict 
is that all were found wanting. 

There are yet many wastes in cotton culture. One waste, 
which went on for a full century and has not yet been 
completely stopped, was the waste of cotton seed. The 
farmers used to realize only $5,000,000 a year from their 
cotton seed; now they receive S100,000,000. Another waste 
is in the reckless use of commercial fertilizers, and another 



The Oyening of a New Era 559 

the even more reckless selection of seed for planting. Still 
another waste, likely to have attention now, is the total loss 
of unopened bolls. By threshing these in parts of Texas 
last year nearly $2,000,000 was added to the value of the 
crop. If it is possible to invent an effective cotton-picker, 
then it is fair to assume that we are wasting $50,000,000 
yearly in depending on hand labor for this work. Millions, 
too, are wasted by the use of inefficient tools, and millions 
more through unwise methods of cultivation and failure to 
rotate crops. The cotton boll-weevil also threatens a loss 
of hundreds of millions if not checked. Lastly, we are still 
shipping 60 per cent, of our cotton to Europe — almost as 
uneconomic, as has been said, as it would be to ship our iron 
ore instead of turning it into the finished product here. 

The market for cotton products will continue to increase. 
They will probably increase until every acre of tillable land 
in the South may be profitably cultivated; and these States 
will realize, in a different way, the kingship of cotton that the 
Old South dreamed of. Fifty years ago, the whole world 
produced only about 3,000,000 bales (little more than the 
present product of Texas.'). This year, the world's product 
is 15,000,000 bales. This 15,000,000 will become 20,000,000 
within a few decades ; and half this vast product will probably 
be grown, spun, and woven in the South. The economic 
significance of this reasonable prediction is simply this — 
that no other part of the world will become so rich from an 
agricultural product. 

In this article, nothing has been said about the enormous 
value of the by-products of the cotton plant. Nor have the 
southern cotton mills been described; yet more cotton is 
now spun in the South than in the North. 



560 



Readings in American History 



104. Conservation of Natural Resources 



Members 
of the 
confer- 
ence. 



Inipor- 
tance of 
the 
problem. 



On May 13, 1908, upon the invitation of President Roosevelt, 
the governors of the several States and large numbers of national 
officials came together at the White House for a conference on the 
conservation of natural resources. The extract given is from the 
address of President Roosevelt on that occasion. — (Conference of 
Governors on 1he Conservation of Natural Resources, May IS-l.'S, 
1908, pp. 3 passim, 60th Congress, 2d Session, 1908-9. House Docu- 
ments, Vol. CXXVHI.) 

Governorsof the several States; and gentlemen : I welcome 
\ ou to this conference at the White House. You have come 
hither at my request so that we may join together to consider 
the question of the conservation and use of the great funda- 
mental sources of wealth in this nation. So vital is this 
question, that for the first time in our history the chief 
executive officers of the States separately, and of the States 
together forming the nation, ha^'e met to consider it. . . . 

With the Governors come men from each State chosen for 
their special acquaintance with the terms of the problem 
that is before us. Among them are experts in natural re- 
sources and representatives of national organizations con- 
cerned in the development and use of these resources; the 
Senators and Representatives in Congress; the Supreme 
Court, the Cabinet, and the Inland Waterways Commission 
have likewise been invited to the conference, which is therc- 
foi"e national in a peculiar sense. 

This conference on the conservation of natural resources 
is in efi'ect a meeting of the representatives of all the people 
of the United States called to consider the weightiest problem 
now before the Nation; and the occasion for the meeting 
lies in the fact that the natural resources of our country are 
in danger of exhaustion if we permit the old wasteful methods 
of exploiting them longer to continue. 

With the rise of peoples from savagery to civilization, and 
with the consequent growth in the extent and variety of the 
needs of the average man, there comes a steadily increasing 



The Opcving of n New Era 561 

jiiowth in the amount demanded by this average man from 
the actual resources of the country, and yet, rather curiousl\', 
at the same time that there comes that increase in wliat the 
a\erage man demands from the resources he is apt to lose 
the sense of his dependence upon nature. . . . 

Every step of the progress of mankind is marked by the 
disco\ery and use of natural resources pre\iously unused. 
Without such progressi^•e knowledge and utilization of natural 
resources population could not grow, nor industries mul- 
tiply, nor the hidden wealth of the earth be de\eloped for the 
benefit of mankind. 

From the first beginnings of ci\'ilization, on the banks of intensity 
the Nile and the Euphrates, the industrial progress of the ^j.^^^^^^ 
world has gone on slowly, with occasional set-backs, but on 
the whole steadily, through tens of centuries to the present 
day. . . . But of late the rapidity of the progress has in- 
creased at such a rate that more space has been actually 
covered during the century and a quarter occupied by our 
national life than during the preceding six thousand years 
that take us back to the earliest monuments of Egypt, to 
the earliest cities of the Babylonian plain. 

When the founders of this nation met at Independence 
Hall in Philadelphia the conditions of commerce had not 
fundamentally changed from what they were when the 
Phoenician keels first furro'wed the lonely waters of the 
IVIediterranean. . . . Mining was carried on fundamentally 
as it had been carried on by the Pharaohs in the countries 
adjacent to the Red Sea. . . . 

In 1776, the wares of the merchants of Boston, of Charles- 
ton, like the wares of the merchants of Nineveh and Sidon, 
if they went by water, were carried by boats propelled by 
sails or oars; if they went by land were carried in wagons 
drawn by beasts of draught or in packs on the backs of 
beasts of burden. The ships that crossed the high seas were 
better than the ships that three thousand years before crossed 
the i'Egean, but they were of the same type, after all — they 
were wooden ships propelled by sails. . . . On land, the roads 



562 



Readings in American History 



Growth of 
the nation 
and de- 
struction 
of natural 
resources. 



at the end of the eighteenth century were not as good as the 
roads of the Roman Empire, while the service of the posts 
was probably inferior. 

Tn Washington's time anthracite coal was known only as 
a useless black .stone; and the great fields of bituminous coal 
were undiscovered. As steam was unknown, the use of coal 
for power production was undreamed of. Water was prac- 
tically the only source of power, save the labor of men and 
animals; and this power was used only in the most primitive 
fashion. But a few small iron deposits had been found in 
this country, and the use of iron by our countrymen was very 
small. Wood was practically the only fuel, and what lum- 
ber was sawed was consumed locally, while the forests were 
regarded chiefly as obstructions to settlement and culti- 
vation. . . . 

Such was the degree of progress to which civilized mankind 
had attained when this nation began its career. It is almost 
impos.sible for us in this day to realize how little our Revo- 
lutionary ancestors knew of the great store of natural re- 
sources whose discovery and use have been such vital factors 
in the growth and greatness of this nation, and how little they 
required to take from this store in order to satisfy their needs. 

Since then our knowledge and the use of the resources of 
the present territory of the United States have increased a 
hundred-fold. Indeed, the growth of this nation by leaps 
and bounds makes one of the most striking and important 
chapters in the history of the world. Its growth has been 
due to the rapid development, and alas that it should be said! 
to the rapid destruction of our natural resources. Nature has 
supplied to us in the United States, and still supplies to us, 
more kinds of resources in a more lavish degree than has 
ever been the case at any other time or with any other people. 
Our position in the world has been attained by the extent 
and thoroughness of the control we have achieved over nature; 
but we are more, and not less, dependent upon what she 
furnishes than at any previous time of history since the days 
of primitive man. 



The Opening of a Neic Era 



563 



Yet our fathers, though they knew so Httle of the resources 
of the country, exercised a wise forethought in reference 
thereto. Washington clearly saw that the perpetuity of the 
States could only be secured by union, and that the only 
feasible basis of union was an economic one; in other words, 
that it must be based on the development and use of their 
natural resources. Accordingly, he helped to outline a scheme 
of commercial development, and by his influence an inter- 
state waterways commission was appointed by Virginia and 
Maryland. 

It met near where we are now meeting, in Alexandria, 
adjourned to Mount Vernon, and took up the consideration 
of interstate commerce by the only means then available, 
that of water. Further conferences were arranged, first at 
Annapolis and then at Philadelphia. It was in Philadelphia 
that the representatives of all the States met for what was 
in its original conception merely a waterways conference; 
but when they had closed their deliberations the outcome 
was the Constitution which made the States into a na- 
tion. . . . 

Since the days when the Constitution was adopted, steam 
and electricity have revolutionized the industrial world. 
Nowhere has the revolution been so great as in our own 
country. The discovery and utilization of mineral fuels and 
alloys have given us the lead over all other nations in the 
production of steel. The discovery and utilization of coal 
and iron have given us our railways, and have led to such 
industrial development as has never before been seen. The 
vast wealth of lumber in our forests, the riches of our soils 
and mines, the discovery of gold and mineral oils, combined 
with the efficiency of our transportation, have made the 
conditions of our life unparalleled in comfort and con- 
venience. ... 

The steadily increasing drain on these natural resources 
has promoted to an extraordinary degree the complexity of 
our industrial and social life. Moreover, this unexampled 
development has had a determining effect upon the character 



Washing- 
ton and 
inter-' 
state 
com- 
merce. 



Influence 
of steam 
and elec- 
tricity. 



Drain on 

natural 
resources. 



564 



Readings in American Ili.ftorjf 



Limits of 
public 
lands and 
other re- 
sources. 



Soils 
impover- 
ished. 



and opinions of our people. The demand for efficiency in the 
great task has given us vigor, etiectiveness, decision, and 
power, and a capacity for achievement which in its own Hues 
has ne^-er yet been matched. So great and so rapid has been 
our material growth that there has been a tendency to lag 
behind in spiritual and moral growth; but that is not the 
subjectupon which I speak to you to-day. 

Disregarding for the moment the question of moral pur- 
pose, it is safe to say that the prosperity- of our people depends 
directly on the energy and intelligence with which our natural 
resources are used. It is equally clear that these resource.s 
are the final basis of national power and perpetuity. Fi- 
nally, it is ominously evident that these resources are in the 
course of rapid exhaustion. 

This nation began with the l)elief that its landed po.sses- 
sions were illimitable and capable of supporting all the people 
who might care to make our country their home; but already 
the limit of un.settled laml is in sight, and, indeed, but little 
land fitted for agriculture now remains unoccupied, save 
what can be reclaimed by irrigation and di-ainage. ^^'e 
began with an unapproached heritage of forests; more than 
half of the timber is gone. We began with coal fields more 
extensive than those of any other nation, and with iron ores 
regarded as inexhaustible, and many experts now declare 
that the end of both iron and coal is in sight. 

The mere increase in our consumption of coal during 1907 
over 190(1 exceeded the total consumption in IS76, the cen- 
tennial year. The enormous stores of mineral, oils, and gas 
are largely gone. Our natural waterways are not gone, but 
they have been so injured by neglect, and by the division of 
responsibility and utter lack of system in dealing with them, 
that there is less navigation on them now than there was 
fifty years ago. Finally, we began with soils of unexampled 
fertilitA , and we have so impoverished them by injudicious 
use and by failing to check erosion that their crop-producing 
power is diminishing instead of increasing. In a word, we 
have thoughtlessly, and to a large degree unnecessarily, 



The Opening of a Netc Era 



565 



are ex- 
hausted. 



tliniinished the resources upon which not only our prosperity 
but the prosperity of our children must always depend. 

We hti\e become great because of the la\ish use of our what will 
resources, and we have just reason to be proud of our growth, h^^ppen 
But the time has come to inquire seriously what will happen sources 
when our forests are gone, when the coal, the iron, the oil, 
and the gas are exhausted, when the soils shall have been 
still further impoverished and washed into the streams, pol- 
luting the rivers, denuding the fields, and obstructing navi- 
gation. These questions do not relate only to the next cen- 
tury, or to the next generation. It is time for us now as a 
nation to exercise the same reasonable foresight in dealing 
with our great natural resources that would be shown by 
any prudent man in conserving and widely using the prop- 
erty which contains the assurance of well-being for himself 
and his children. . . . 

The natural resources I have enmnerated can be divided 
into two sharply distinguished classes accordingly as they 
are, or are not capable of renewal. Mines, if used, must 
necessarily be exhausted. The minerals do not and can not 
renew themselves. Therefore, in dealing with the coal, the 
oil, the gas, the iron, the metals generally, all that we can do 
is to try to see that they are wisely used. The exhaustion 
is certain to come in time. . . . 

The second class of resources consists of those which can 
not only be used in such manner as to leave them undimin- 
ished for our children, but can actually be improved by wise 
use. The soil, the forests, the waterways come in this cate- 
gory. ... In dealing with mineral resources, man is able 
to improve on nature only by putting the resources to a 
beneficial use which in the end exhausts them; but in deal- 
ing with the soil and its products man can improve on 
nature by compelling the resources to renew and even re- 
construct themselves in such manner as to serve increasingly 
beneficial uses — while the living waters can be so controlled 
as to multiply their benefits. 

Neither the primitive man nor the pioneer was aware of 



566 



Readings in American History 



The 

pioneer 

and 

natural 

resources. 



("■ondi- 
t ions 
to-day. 



Water- 
ways 
commis- 
sion. 



any duty to posterity in dealing with the renewable resources. 
^Yhen the American settler felled the forests, he felt that there 
was plenty of forest left for the sons who came after him. 
When he exhausted the soil of his farm he felt that his son 
could go west and take up another. ... So it was with his 
immediate successors. When the soil-wash from the farm- 
er's fields choked the neighboring rivers he thought only of 
using the railway rather than boats for moving his produce 
and supplies. . . . 

Now all this is changed. On the average the son of the 
farmer of to-day must make his living on his father's farm. 
There is no difficulty in doing this if the father will exercise 
wisdom. No wise use of a farm exhausts its fertility. So 
with the forests. W'e are over the verge of a timber famine 
in this country, and it is unpardonable for the nation or the 
States to permit any further cutting of our timber, save in 
accordance with a system which will provide that the next 
generation shall see the timber increased instead of dimin- 
ished. 

W'e can, moreover, add enormous tracts of the most valu- 
able possible agricultural lands to the national domain by 
irrigation in the arid and semi-arid and by drainage of great 
tracts of swamp land in the humid regions. We can enor- 
mously increase our transportation facilities by the canaliza- 
tion of our rivers so as to complete a great system of water- 
ways on the Pacific, Atlantic, and Gulf coasts, and in the 
Mississippi valley, from the Great Plains to the Alleghenies, 
and from the northern lakes to the mouth of the mighty 
Father of Waters. But all these various uses of our natural 
resources are so clearly connected that they should be co- 
ordinated, and should be treated as part of one coherent 
plan, and not in haphazard and piecemeal fashion. 

It is largely because of this that I appointed the Waterwa;)"s 
Commission last year, and that I have sought to perpetuate 
its work. I wish to take this opportunity to express in 
heartiest fashion my acknowledgment to all the members of 
the Commission. At great personal sacrifice of time and 



The Opening of a Neiv Era 



50- 



effort they have rendered a service to the public for which 
we can not be too grateful. Especial credit is due to the 
initiative, the energy, the devotion to duty, and the far- 
sightedness of Gifford Pinchot, to whom we owe so much of 
the progress we have already made in handling this matter 
of the coordination and conservation of natural resources. 
If it had not been for him this convention neither would nor 
could have been called. 

We are coming to recognize as never before the right of 
the nation to guard its own future in the essential matter of 
natural resources. In the past we have admitted the right 
of the individual to injure the future of the republic for his 
own present profit. The time has come for a change. As a 
people, we have the right and the duty, second to none other 
but the right and duty of obeying the moral law, of requiring 
and doing justice, to protect ourselves and our children 
against the wasteful development of our natural resources, 
whether that waste is caused by the actual destruction of 
such resources or by making them impossible of develop- 
ment hereafter. 

Any right-thinking father earnestly desires and strives to 
leave his son both an untarnished name and a reasonable 
equipment for the struggle of life. So this nation, as a whole, 
should earnestly desire and strive to leave to the next genera- 
tion the national honor unstained and the national resources 
unexhausted. There are signs that both the nation and the 
States are waking to a realization of this great truth. On 
March 10, 1908, the Supreme Court of Maine rendered an 
exceedingly important judicial decision. This opinion was 
rendered in response to questions as to the right of the 
Legislature to restrict the cutting of trees on private land 
for the prevention of droughts and floods, the preservation 
of the natural water supply, and the prevention of the erosion 
of such lands, and the consequent filling up of rivers, ponds, 
and lakes. The forests and water power of Maine constitute 
the larger part of her wealth and form the basis of her in- 
dustrial life, and the question submitted by the Maine Sen- 



Notable 
case in 
Maine. 



568 



Readings in American Jlistory 



Policy of 
preserva- 
tion. 



Right to 
limit use 
of private 
property. 



ate to the Supreme Court and tlie answer of the Supreme 
Court ahke l)ear testimony to the wisdom of the people of 
Maine, and eU'arly define a pohey of eonservation of natui'al 
resources, the adoption of which is of \ ital importance, not 
merely to Maine, but to the whole eounti-y. 

Such a policy w'ill preserve soil, forests, water power as a 
heritage for the children and the children's children of the 
men and women of this generation; for any enactment that 
provides for the wise utilization of forest, whether in puhli.' 
or private owmership, and for the conservation of the water 
resources of the country, must necessarily l)e legislation that 
will promote both private and public welfare; for flood pre- 
vention, water-power development, preservation of the soil, 
and improvement of na^•igal)le rivers are all promoted by 
such a policy of forest conservation. 

The opinion of the Maine supreme bench sets forth un- 
equivocally the principle that the property rights of the in- 
di\idual are subordinate to the rights of the conmiunity, and 
especially that the waste of wild timber land derived origi- 
nally from the State, involving as it would the impoverish- 
ment of the State and its people, and thereb\- defeating one 
great purpose of government, may properly be prevented by 
State restrictions. 

The court says that there are two reasons w'hy the right 
of the public to control and limit the use of private property 
is peculiarly applicable to property in land : " First, such 
property is not the result of productive labor, but is deri\e(l 
solely from the State itself, the original owner; second, the 
amount of land being incapal)le of increase, if the owners of 
large tracts can waste them at will without State restriction, 
the State and its people may be helplessly imp()^•erished 
and the one great purpose of government defeated. . . . We 
do not think the proposed legislation would operate to ' take' 
private property within the inhibition of the Constitution. 
While it might restrict the owner of wild and uncultivated 
lands in his u.se of them, might delay his taking some of the 
product, might delay his anticipated profits and even might 



The Opening of a New Era 



5G9 



thereby cause him some loss of profit, it would nevertheless 
lea\e him his lands, their product and increase, untouched, 
and without diminution of title, estate or quantity. He 
would still have large measure of control and large oppor- 
tunities to realize values. He might suffer delay but not 
privation. . . . The proposed legislation . . . would be 
within the legislative power and would not operate as a 
taking of private property for which compensation must be 
made." 

The Court of Errors and Appeals of New Jersey has adopted 
a similar view, which has recently been sustained by the 
Supreme Court of the United States. In delivering the opin- 
ion of the court on Aj^ril 6, 1908, Mr. Justice Holmes said: 

"The State as quasi-sovereign and representative of the Decision 
interests of the public has a standing in court to protect the °^^^^ 

1 lie •!•• Supreme 

atmosphere, the water, and the forests withm its territory. Court of 

irrespective of the assent or dissent of the private owners of states""^^^ 

the land most immediately concerned. ... It appears to 

us that few public interests are more obvious, indisputable, 

and independent of particular theory than the interest of the 

pul)lic of a State to maintain the rivers that are wholly 

within it substantially undiminished, except by such drafts 

upon them as the guardian of the public welfare may permit 

for the purpose of turning them to a more perfect use. This 

public interest is omnipresent where^•er there is a State, 

and grows more pressing as population grows. . . . We are 

of opinion, further, that the constitutional power of the State 

to insist that its natural advantages shall remain unimpaired 

by its citizens is not dependent upon any nice estimate of 

the extent of present use or speculation as to future needs. 

The legal conception of the necessai'y is apt to be confined 

to somewhat rudimentary wants, and there are benefits 

from a great river that might escape a lawyer's v'\c\y. The 

State, however, is not re(|iiired to submit even to an ivsthetic 

analysis. Any analysis may be inadecpiate. It finds itself 

in possession of what all admit to be a great public good, and 

what it has it may keep and give no one a reason for its will." 



570 Readings in American History 

These decisions reach the root of the idea of the conser- 
vation of our resources in the interests of our people. 

105. The Inauguration of Woodrow Wilson as Presi- 
dent OF THE United States, March 4, 1913 

On November 3, 1912, Woodrow Wilson, who was at the time 
governor of the State of New Jersey, was elected President of the 
United States. President Wilson was the candidate of the Demo- 
cratic party. His chief opponents for the office were William 
^Howard Taft, representing the Republican party, and Theodore 
Roosevelt, candidate of the Progressive party. — -The account of the 
inaugural ceremonies here given appeared in the Chicago Record- 
Herald for March 5, 1913. 

INAUGURAL CEREMONIES 

At five minutes to 12 Carl Loeffler, one of the assistant 
doorkeepers, caused a sigh in the galleries by setting the 
Senate clock back a half hour. The Senate still had business 
to attend to before it was declared adjourned sine die. . . . 

Senator Warren announced that the committee appointed 
by the Senate to act with a like committee from the House 
to wait on the President and ask him if he had any further 
message to send to Congress had fulfilled its duty, and had 
to report that: 

"President Taft has no further communication to make 
to Congress." 

The first two words were accented. 

Here, in thrilling fashion, those privileged to see the in- 
augiu'ation at close range had it borne to them that the end 
of an administration was at hand — that a President was pass- 
ing; that a Republican President was about to turn over 
the ship of state to the man who had defeated him before 
the electorate. . . . 

The clock cannot be turned backward forever. 

Suddenly the whole situation changes. Without a formal 
word the affairs of legislation are dropped. There comes to 
the secretary's desk a resolution expressing the thanks of the 



The Opening of a Neic Era 571 

Senate for the services rendered during the session by the 
president pro tempore duet — GalHnger of New Hampshire 
and Bacon of Georgia. It is adopted and Poindexter per- 
functorily resumes his talk on extraneous affairs. . . . 

In a lull the sergeant-at-arms proceeds halfway down the 
center aisle, immediately is recognized by the president pro 
tempore and announces: 

"The speaker and members of the House of Representa- 
tives of the United States." 

The House has adjourned sine die and has forced itself on 
the tardy Senate to cut short the delayed work. Speaker 
Clark moves down the aisle and takes a seat with the pre- 
siding officer of the Senate. Just behind comes " Uncle 
Joe" Cannon, the czar who was, carrying his coat on his arm. 

The Senate arises as the members of the House file in, 
not by one door, but by three. It is 1 1 : 55 by the clock, 
which is a half-hour overdue. . . . 

" Ambassadors and ministers plenipotentiary to the United 
States," announces the sergeant-at-arms, bowing low, and 
down the aisle in dazzling uniforms, their breasts covered with 
medals and insignia of orders, come the men who represent 
the other governments of the earth, great and small, at the 
American capital. 

Leading the gold-embroidered galaxy is M. Jusserand, 
ambassador from France; next to him is the Right Honor- 
able James Bryce, O. M., ambassador from Great Britain; 
next is Count von Bernstorff, ambassador from Germany; 
Youssouf Zia Pacha, ambassador from Turkey, follows, pre- 
senting a front of embroidery that looks like a solid shield 
of gold, across which is worn a broad green sash. 

The Russian ambassador, George Bakhmeteff, is strikingly 
arrayed in white trousers, with the regulation gold habili- 
ments adorning his upper person. 

Most striking of all is the Italian ambassador, the Marquis 
Cusani Confalonieri, whose gold embroidery is limited, but 
whose uniform from head to foot is of brightest red. It is 
the uniform of the Knights of Malta. On his breast he wears 



572 Readings in American History 

many medals and jewels bestowed upon him by various 
gov^ernments. 

Jeffersonian simplicity is foreign to the courts of Europe 
and to the diplomats as a whole who represent their rulers 
at the American capital, and the foreign ambassadors and 
ministers in all their glory are part and parcel of inaugural 
and other ceremonious events taking place at the seat of the 
T^nited States government. 

" The chief justice and the associate justices of the Supreme 
Court of the United States," announces the sergeant-at-arms 
at the next rap of the gavel. 

Again the members of the Senate and others on the floor 
rise in their places. Nine solemn, black-robed interpreters 
of the law move impressively down the aisle. As they reach 
the front the chief justice and others in turn bow to the pre- 
siding officer. The Senate is seated for another brief moment. 

Now it is 12:01 by the l)elated clock. The stir at the 
main entrance indicates the approach of the new adminis- 
tration in physical form. Now the sergeant-at-arms ad- 
vances and announces: 

"The Vice President-elect of the United States." 

Escorted by Senators Crane and Bacon and followed by 
the other members of the Congressional committee on in- 
augural arrangements, Thomas R. Marshall proceeds down 
the center aisle and is seated in the seal-brown leather chair 
placed just below and to the right of the presiding officer's 
dais. 

Meanwhile the members of the retiring Taft cabinet Imve 
entered the chamber unannounced from the marl)le room in 
the rear and have taken seats adjoining those occupied by 
members of the diplomatic corps. There are not enough 
seats to go around, however, and Secretary of the Interior 
Fisher democratically squats on the steps leading to the 
Secretary's desk. . . . 

And now the thrilling entrance is at hand. A bevy of 
gold-laced aides appears in the doorway and the galleries are 
breathless as the sergeant-at-arms proclaims: 



Tlir Opening of a Nrw Era 573 

"The President of the United States; the President-elect 
of the United States." 

Not a cheer, not a ripple of applause greets the entrance 
of the old and the new. The outbursts of enthusiasm are for 
another place. Here in the Senate chamber all is solemn 
and formal. 

Preceded by the aides, the retiring and incoming Presidents 
proceed to the seats set for them facing the body of the 
chamber at slow, almost funeral gait. President Taft is on 
the right of the President-elect. . . . 

Without further ceremony or annoimcement, as soon as 
those on the Senate floor have resumed their seats following 
the entry of the President and President-elect and just as 
if there had been a rehearsal in advance, as in the case of 
fashionable weddings, the Vice President-elect arises, faces 
the president pro tempore, raises high his right hand and 
takes the oath of his new office. . . . 

A second later the gavel was in the hands of the new Vice 
President, the Senate of a new Congress was called to order 
and all, on the Senate floor and in the galleries alike, arose as 
\'ice President Marshall said : 

" Let us reverently attend while the chaplain invokes the 
blessing of our God and Father upon us." 

As soon as the prayer was finished the ^'ice President de- 
livered his inaugural address. After that the new senators 
and senators who had been re-elected for another term were 
sworn in and then the procession was formed for the march 
to the east front of the capitol, where the oath of office was 
to be administered to President Wilson. . . . 

What a scene it was that greeted the eye of the person 
stepping from the rotunda of the great capitol building to 
the expansive stand erected for the inaugural ceremonies I 
A })road, red-carpeted, inclined aisle led from the main door 
of the capitol to the stand upon which the presidential oath 
was to be administered and from which the new President 
was to deliver his inaugural address. 

On either side were seats reserved for the senators and 



o74 Readings in American llision) 

members of the House and for their guests who had heen 
admitted to the Senate galleries to witness the carrying out 
of the first part of the impressive programme. On either 
side were titanic stands already peopled by thousands of 
spectators. 

In the acre or two immediately fronting the presidential 
stand were the future admirals of the navy and generals of the 
army — the cadets from the military academy at West Point 
in dashing grey, and the cadets from the naval academy at 
Annapolis wrapped in their dull blue overcoats. 

In the vast expanse of the plaza beyond was the multitude, 
the assemblage of plain American people there to witness a 
historic event and to hear their own cheers, if not the spoken 
words of the inaugural message. 

The roofs of the Senate and House wings of the capitol 
were crowded with spectators. . . . 

At 1 : 09 o'clock, correct time, four members of the capitol 
police force led the march from the Senate chamber down the 
broad carpeted aisle of the inaugural stand. Behind them 
came the chief justice of the United States and the associate 
justices of the Supreme Court. Behind them came the mil- 
itary and naval aides of the President, preceding the Presi- 
dent and the President-elect walking abreast. 

While the crowd in front was cheering the incoming Presi- 
dent the crowd on the stands on the sides was paying atten- 
tion to other figures forming part of the procession. 

The Senate filed in from the capitol, followed by members 
of the Taft cabinet, who took seats in the front row of the 
main stand on the right-hand side. The diplomats took 
seats in front on the left. The members of the House took 
seats on one side of the aisle and the members of the Senate 
on the other. 

At 1 : 30 by the watch the new President rose and. facing 
the chief justice, placed his hand on the Bible and took the 
following oath : 

" I do solemnly swear that I will faithfully execute the 
office of President of the United States and will, to the best 



The Opening of a New Era bib 

of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution 
of the United States." 

Bending forward, President Wilson reverently kissed the 
book of God. P'ormer President Taft waved his hat by 
way of warning to the crowd not to cheer until the solemn 
ceremonial had been completed. . . . 

It was a short message which the President delivered, 
and as no man could make himself heard more than a com- 
paratively few feet away in such a setting, the cheers and 
applause that greeted some of the striking statements were 
not what they would have been had the address been delivered 
in a public hall. 

The reference to the tariff" evoked cheers that showed the 
demand for thorough revision on the part of a large element 
of the population as represented by the visitors to the 
Democratic inauguration. 

Cries of "Good I" arose when in the next to the concluding 
paragraph of his address the President declared: 

" I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking 
men, to my side." 

As he uttered the last words of his address the President 
turned to receive the hand-grasp of Vice President Marshall, 
who had come to the stand after leading the members of the 
Senate to their places on the platform. Mr. Bryan then 
shook his hand, and former President Taft addressed him 
for the first time as President. 

Tremendous cheers for Bryan were given as the latter left 
the stand and made his way back over the platform to the 
capitol. . . . 

It was now President Wilson and former President Taft. 
As the way was being cleared for the carriage to draw up to 
the stand and take the President and former President on 
the return trip to the White House, ex-President Taft 
relaxed. 

No longer did the burdens of state rest heavily upon him. 
He seemed to exude gladness that the official life to which 
he never expects to return was over. He seemed to feel 



57G Rcadhu/.s in Amcncuti IliMory 

like a boy — like one who suddenly feels no restraint of 
position. 

As a citizen he could laugh and talk and joke, not with 
that lurking feeling of responsibility in the background that 
is felt when a chief executive laughs and talks and jokes, 
but just as plain Bill Taft, or Dr. Taft, if you will, who soon 
will be engaged in the work of teaching constitutional law 
to young men of the land and not upholding it in an official 
capacity. ... 

INAUGURAL MESSAGE OF PRESIDENT WOODROW WILSON 

There has been a change of go\ernnient. It began two 
years ago, when the House of Representatives became Demo- 
cratic by a decisive majority. It has now been completed. 
The Senate about to asseml)le will also be Democratic. The 
offices of President and Vice President have been put into 
the hands of Democrats. 

What does the change mean? That is the question that 
is uppermost in our minds to-day. That is the question I 
am going to try to answer, in order, if I may, to interpret the 
occasion. 

It means much more than the mere success of a party. 
The success of a party means little except when the nation 
is using that party for a large and definite purpose. Xo one 
can mistake tlie purpose for which the nation now seeks to 
u.se the Democratic party. It seeks to use it to interpret 
a change in its own plans and point of x'lew. 

Some old things with which we had grown familiar, and 
which had begun to creep into the very habit of our thought 
and of our lives, have altered their aspect as we have latterly 
looked critically upon them, with fresh, awakened eyes; 
haA'e dropped their disguises and shown themselves alien 
and sinister. 

Some new things, as we look frankly upon them, willing 
to comprehend their real character, have come to assume the 
aspect of things long believed in and familiar^ stuff of our 



The O'pemng of a Neiv Era -577 

own convictions. We have been refreshed by a new insight 
into our own Hfe. . . . 

We see in many things that Hfe is very great. It is in- 
comparably great in its material aspects, in its body of 
wealth, in the diversity and sweep of its energy, in the in- 
dustries which have been conceived and built up by the genius 
of individual men and the limitless enterprise of groups of 
men. 

It is great, also, very great, in its moral force. Nowhere 
else in the world have noble men and women exhibited in 
more striking forms the beauty and the energy of sympathy 
and helpfulness and counsel in their efforts to rectify wrong, 
alleviate suffering and set the weak in the way of strength 
and hope. 

We ha\e built up, moreo\er, a great system of govern- 
ment, which has stood through a long age as in many re- 
spects a model for those who seek to set liberty upon founda- 
tions that will endure against fortuitous change, against 
storm and accident. Our life contains every great thing, 
and contains it in rich abundance. 

But the evil has come with the good, and much fine gold 
has been corroded. 

With riches has come inexcusable waste. We have squan- 
dered a great part of what we might have used, and have 
not stopped to conserve the exceeding bounty of nature, 
without which our genius for enterprise would have been 
worthless and impotent, scorning to be careful, shamefully 
prodigal as well as admirably efficient. 

We have been proud of our industrial achievements, but 
we have not hitherto stopped thoughtfully enough to count 
the human cost, the cost of lives snuffed out, of energies 
overtaxed and broken, the fearful physical and spiritual cost 
to the men and women and children upon whom the dead 
weight and burden of it all has fallen pitilessly the years 
through. 

The groans and agony of it all had not yet reached our 
ears, the solenm, moving undertone of our life, coming up 



578 ■ Readings in American Ilisfory 

out of the mines and factories and out of every home where 
the struggle had its intimate and famiUar seat. With the 
great government went many deep secret things which we 
too long delayed to look into and scrutinize with candid, 
fearless eyes. 

The great government we loved has too often been made 
use of for private and selfish purposes; and those who used 
it had forgotten the people. . . . 

At last a vision has been vouchsafed us of our life as a 
whole. We see the bad with the good, the debased and de- 
cadent with the sound and vital. With this vision we ap- 
proach new affairs. Our duty is to cleanse, to reconsider, 
to restore, to correct the evil without impairing the good, to 
purify and humanize every process of our common life with- 
out weakening or sentimentalizing it. 

There has been something crude and heartless and unfeel- 
ing in our haste to succeed and be great. Our thought has 
been, " Let every man look out for himself, let every genera- 
tion look out for itself," while we reared giant machinery 
which made it impossible that any but those who stood at 
the levers of control should have a chance to look out for 
themselves. • 

We had not forgotten our morals. We remembered well 
enough that we had set up a policy which was meant to serve 
the humblest as well as the most powerful, with an eye 
single to the standards of justice and fair play, and remem- 
l)ered it with pride. But we were very heedless and in a 
hurry to be great. . . . 

We have come now to the sober second thought. The 
scales of heedlessness have fallen from our eyes. We have 
made up our minds to square every process of our national 
life again with the standards we so proudly .set up at the 
beginning and have always carried at our hearts. Our work 
is a work of restoration. 

We have itemized with some degree of particularity the 
things that ought to be altered, and here are some of the 
chief items: 



The Opening of a New Era 579 

A tariff which cuts us off from our proper part in the com- 
merce of the world, violates the just principles of taxation 
and makes the government a facile instrument in the hands 
of private interests; 

A banking and currency system based upon the necessity 
of the government to sell its bonds fifty years ago and per- 
fectly adapted to concentrating cash and restricting credits; 

An industrial system which, take it on all its sides, financial 
as well as administrative, holds capital in leading strings, 
restricts the liberties and limits the opportunities of labor, 
and exploits without renewing or conserving the natural 
resources of the country; 

A body of agricultural activities never yet given the effi- 
ciency of great business undertakings or served as it should 
be through the instrumentality of science taken directly to 
the farm or afforded the facilities of credit best suited to its 
practical needs; 

Watercourses undevelopefl, waste places unreclaimed, for- 
ests untended, fast disappearing, without plan or prospect 
of renewal, unregarded waste heaps at every mine. 

We have studied as perhaps no other nation has the most 
effective means of production, but we have not studied cost 
or economy as we should either as organizers of industry-, as 
statesmen, or as individuals. . . . 

Nor have we studied and perfected the means by which 
government may be put at the service of humanity, in safe- 
guarding the health of the nation, the health of its men and 
its women and its children, as well as their rights in the 
struggle for existence. This is no sentimental duty. The 
firm basis of government is justice, not pity. These are 
matters of justice. 

There can be no equality or opportunity, the first essen- 
tial of justice in the body politic, if men and women and 
children be not shielded in their lives, their very vitality, 
from the consequences of great industrial and social processes 
which they cannot alter, control or singly cope with. 

Society must see to it tiiat it does not itself crush or 



580 Readings in American Hutorj/ 

weaken or damage its own constituent parts. The first duty 
of law is to keep sound the society it serves. 

Sanitary hiws, pure food laws and laws determining con- 
ditions of labor which individuals are powerless to determine 
for themselves are intimate parts of the verj' business of 
justice and legal efficiency. . . . 

These are some of the things we ought to do, and not 
lea\e the others undone, the old-fashioned, never-to-be- 
neglected, fundamental safeguarding of property and of in- 
dividual right. 

This is the high enterprise of the new day: to lift every- 
thing that concerns our life as a nation to the light that 
shines from the hearthfire of every man's conscience and 
vision of the right. 

It is inconceivable that we should do this as partisans; 
it is inconceivable we should do it in ignorance of the facts 
as they are or in blind haste. We shall restore, not destroy. 

We shall deal with our economic system as it is and as it 
may be modified, not as it might be if we had a clean sheet 
of paper to write upon; and step by step we shall make it 
what it should be, in the spirit of those who question their 
own wisdom and seek counsel and knowledge, not shallow 
self-satisfaction or the excitement of excursions whither they 
cannot tell. Justice, and only justice, shall always be our 
motto. . . . 

And yet it will be no cool process of mere science. The 
nation has been deeply stirred, stirred by a solemn passion, 
stirred by the knowledge of wrong, of ideals lost, of govern- 
ment too often debauched and made an instrument of evil. 

The feelings with which we face this new age of right and 
opportunity sweep across our heart-strings like some air out 
of God's own presence, where justice and mercy are recon- 
ciled and the judge and the brother are one. 

We know our task to be no mere task of politics, but a 
task which shall search us through and through, whether we 
be able to understand our time and the need of our people, 
whether we l)e indeed their spokesmen and interpreters, 



The Opening of a Nrir Era 581 

whether we ha^ e the pure heart to comprehend and the recti- 
fied will to choose our high course of action. 

This is not a day of triumph; it is a day of dedication. 
Here muster, not the forces of party, but the forces of human- 
ity. Men's hearts wait upon us; men's lives hang in the 
balance; men's hopes call upon us to say what we will do. 

Who shall live up to the great trust? ^^'ho dares fail to 
try? 

I summon all honest men, all patriotic, all forward-looking 
men, to my side. 

God helping me, I will not fail them, if they will but coun- 
sel and sustain me! 



INDEX 



Adams, John, 137, 243 
Andros, Edmund, 67, 71 
Appomattox, 480 

BoaTON, 59, 143, 183 
Bradford, William, 49 

Cabot, John, 29-31 

California, 397 

Canal, Erie, 373 

Cartier, Jacques, 33 

Charleston, 58 

Chesapeake, The, 273 

Chicago, 351 

Cibola, 20 

Civil Service, Reform of, 514 

Claims, Alabama, 498 

Clark, George Rogers, 152 

Clark, William. 258 

Columbus, Christopher, 8-16 

Confederation, Weaknesses of, 165, 

176 
Congress, First Continental, 137 
Conservation, 560 
Cotton, Value of, 547 

De Soto, Ferdinand, 25-27 
Dinwiddle, Robert, 100 
Douglas, Stephen A., 426 

Ericsson, Leif, 5, 6 

Fitch, John, 188 

France and American Revolution, 

148 
Franklin, Benjamin, 148, 181 
French on Ohio, 96, 98 
Fugitive Slave Law, 451 
Fulton, Robert, 265 

Gerry, Elbridge, 236 

Gettysburg, Battle of, 461 

Great Britain and Civil War, 475 



Hay, John, 533 
Homestead Law, 503 

Iroquois, 75, 80 

Jackson, Andrew, 342, 347 
Jamestown, 38 
Jay, John, 164 

Jeflferson, Thomas, 246, 248, 249, 
252, 255 

La Salle, Sieur de, 91 

Lee, Robert E., 481 

Lewis, Meriwether, 258 

Lincoln, Abraham, 426, 436, 484, 486 

Madison, James, 268 
Marquette. Jacques, 83 
Marshall. John, 236, 241 
Massasoit, 51 

Mississippi, Navigation of, 225 
Monroe Doctrine, 331 
Montezuma, 24 

New England, 45, 52 

New Orleans, 316 

Newport, Christopher, 38 

New York, City of, 106, 186, 286 

North Carolina, 206 

Northmen, 1 

Oregon Trail, 388 

Penn. William, 62 
Pennsylvania, 62 
Philadelphia, 187 
Pinckney, C. C, 236 
Pizarro, 25 
Plymouth, 49 
Porto Rico, 526 
Princeton College, 194 
Public Lands, 318, 502 

Quakers, 158 



Hague Peace Conference, The Railroad, 360. 420 
Second, 536 Reconstruction, 489 

Hamilton, Alexander. 145 Roosevelt, Tlu-odore, 560 

583 



584 



Index 



Samoset, 50 

San Francisco, 404 

Santa Fe. 823 

Slavery, Arguments for, 405 

Smith, Jolm, 36, 45 

Society, Anti-Slavery, 378 

Society, First Abolition, 180 

South America, 543 

South. The New, 550 

Stamp Act, 130, 133 

Steamboat, 311 

Stephens, Alexander H., 444 



Tariff [1830], 3.34 
Telegraph, 383 
Tonty, 92 

ViNCENNES, CaHTI KE OF, 152 

Virginia, 36, 40, 194 

Washington, City of, 280 
Washington, George, 101, 141, 203, 

208, 218, 229 
West, The (18151, 304 
Wilson, Woodrow, 570 
Witchcraft, 72, 75 



H 32 88 



